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Heaven Revealed 



BEING 



A POPULAR PRESENTATION OF SWEDEN 
B ORG'S DISCLOSURES ABOUT HEA VEN, 



WITH THE 



CONCURRENT TESTIMONY OF A FEW COMPE- 
TENT AND RELIABLE WITNESSES. 



BY 

B. F. BARRETT, 

Author of "The Nbw View of Hell," "The New Dispensation," " Foot- 
HUNTS of the New Age,"/' The Question Answered," etc., etc. 



" If the phenomena of the Spiritual World are real, in the nature of things they ought 
to come into the sphere of Laiv." — Henry Dkummond. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PORTER & COATES. 

1885. 




< 



Copyright. 
BWEOENBORG PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION. 

1S85. 



LC Control Numbe: 




tmp96 029031 



Preface 



i 



T is nearly fifty years since the author of the present 
work commenced a serious and thorough examina- 
tion of the theological writings of Emanuel Sweden- 
borg. He was told that this illustrious seer claimed to 
have enjoyed open intercourse with the denizens of the 
spiritual world for many years, and to have been divinely 
commissioned to write a detailed account of what he 
heard and saw in that world ; and the treatise known as 
11 Heaven and Hell " was placed in his hands for perusal. 
After reading a few pages, the book was laid aside, 
the present writer saying to himself: "All this may be 
true, or it may not. We have no means of knowing. 
There is no adequate test whereby the truth or falsity 
of such alleged disclosures can be determined. Why, 
then, should I waste time over such a book ? " 

It is easy for me, therefore, to pardon the incredulity 
of Christians touching this astounding claim of the 
great seer, and to excuse the prevailing reluctance to 
give any thought or attention to his alleged disclosures 
concerning the other world. For probably most of 
them think as I did, that we have no means of proving 
either the truth or falsity of such pretended revelations. 

iii 



iv i- 

Wli 1 fore, by an examination of 

which can neither be proved nor disproved? 
Will it not be a wa 

It when, after thorough and careful study of Swe- 

tem f I found myself compelled 

by i of evidence to accept it for just what 

i be divinely authorized revelation of new 

and In truth — I was satisfied that he was a man 

d and f God, and that his disclosures con- 

[eaven and Hell must also be true. Then 

turning my attention to his pneumatology, I very soon 

found that this, too, rests on a foundation not less solid 

and secure than his the< ; and that its truth is sus- 

.iii < xtent I had not suspected — 
ptible of a verification, indeed, closely approximat- 
trations o( exact science. 
The purpose of the present volume is, to lay before 
me of the evidence which carried con- 
to the writer's own mind, that what Sweden- 
I has reveal d concerning the heaven of angels is 
ketch, but literally and unquestiona- 
A number of reliable and independent wit- 
:. h D summoned in the case, — such as 

a, an.. human experience, the 

tltal and moral constitution, the 
US of the wisest and best men, the 
i of the Heavenly Father, and the 



/'. V 

undeniably wholesome and ' n tendency of the dis- 
closures themselv< 

Now, if we have the concurrent testimony of all these 

witnesses in support of the truth of Swedenborg's dis- 
closures, what is the verdict we might reasonably expect 
on the subject, from an intelligent and fair-minded jury? 
Had he performed miracles like those recorded in the 
New Testament, and had his miraculous power and 
deeds been ever so well authenticated, would this have 
been half as convincing to a rational and truth-seeking 
mind, as the agreeing testimony of the above named 
witnesses ? Or would it have been half as well suited 
to the requirements of a reasoning and reflecting age ? 

Probably every Christian minister is plied with ques- 
tions now and then concerning the life beyond the 
grave, which he would be glad to answer, but feels his 
utter inability to do so; and most ministers would, no 
doubt, greatly rejoice to have a full and strictly accurate 
account of the spiritual w T orld, its nature, inhabitants, 
phenomena and laws — an account as full and reliable as 
an honest and intelligent traveler who had spent twenty 
years or more in Japan, might be expected to give us 
of that country. They would doubtless find it an im- 
mense aid in their work of helping souls on the way to 
heaven. 

And the author believes that every minister who reads 
this volume with close attention and without prejudice, 



vi PREFACE. 

will id that such a report of the world beyond 

has actually been m And he has himself derived 

tion and spiritual help from the disclos- 
whicli he here invites attention, and is so anx- 
should share what has been to him 
a rah repast, that he feels like making personally 
a lai Ml the price of the present volume, 

. : v minister and theological student in our land, 
who will promise to read it with close attention and a 
ne to know the truth. 
I In several ^\ the subjects treated in these pages, 
the author is fully aware that most of the churches of 
to-day have outgrown and rejected the views that were 
entertained a hundred years ago; such, for example, as 
"Work in Heaven/ 1 "Sex and Marriage in Heaven,'* 
"Children in Heaven," "A Heaven for the non-Chris- 
World, " etc. And the fact that the views com- 
monly held and taught on these subjects to-day, are in 
tantial ment with those revealed through Svve- 

. hould 1) tak< n a- presumptive evidence that 
-a other subjects also are true. 
An minister's ecclesiastical relations to-day, are 

in Q< d by hi- open rejection of the old do^- 

: the damnation of Some infants and of all the 

then, and of incessant oral prayer and psalm-sing- 

\ or by his acceptance of the new and 

nal view- on these subjects, there is no rea- 



PRE! vn 

son to believe that they would be seriously affected by 
his embracing and teaching the entire pneumatology of 

Swedenborg, so far, at least, as this can be shown to 
be in agreement with Scripture, reason, experience, and 
the known laws of the human soul. 

But the strongest evidence of the truth of Sweden- 
borg's revealings about Heaven, and that which, above 
all else, should commend them to the thoughtful and 
earnest inquirer, is their wholesome practical tendency — 
their unquestionably elevating and benign influence 
upon the believer's life and character. The author 
hopes that the reader will not lose sight of this consid- 
eration, nor forget to give to it the weight which its im- 
portance demands : Remembering these divine words : 

"For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of 
thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble-bush 
gather they grapes." 

And no more should we expect that wholesome and 
benign influences would be shed forth upon the believ- 
er's mind and heart, from false or fantastic teachings, 
from the speculations of a mere theorist, the hallucina- 
tions of a dreamer, or the oracular utterances of an in- 
nocent but self-deluded fanatic. 



B. F. B. 



GERMANTOWN, June 24, 1 885. 



Contents 



I. — SWEDENBORG THE ClIOSEN INSTRUMENT 

II.— Objections Answered 

III. — The Origin of Angels 
IV. — The Essential Nature of Heaven . 
V. — Character of the Angels 
VI. — Verdict of Reason and Experience 
VII. — Testimony of Scripture . 
VIII. — The Sure Way to Heaven 
IX. — Light and Heat in Heaven 
X. — Practical Tendency of this Disclosure 
XI. — Environment in Heaven, and what Determine 

XII. — Societies in Heaven 

XIII. — The Human Form of Heaven . 

XIV. — A Heaven for the Non-Christian World 

XV. — Are Earthly Relationships Continued in Hea\ 

XVI. — Meeting and Recognition of Friends in 

Hereafter - 

XVII. — Personal Appearance of the Angels 
XVIII. — Rejuvenescence and Growth in Heaven 
XIX. — Houses and Homes in Heaven. 
XX. — Garments in Heaven. 
XXI. — Children in Heaven . 
XXII. — Sex and Marriage in Heaven . 
XXIII. — The Subject Continued — Scripture 
XXIV. — Conjugial Love— Its Nature . 
XXV. — Practical Considerations 
XXVI.— Work in Heaven 
XXVII. — The Three Heavens, and How Related 
XXVIII. — Eternal Progress in Heaven . 
XXIX. — Consociation of Angels with Men 



S IT 



EN? . 
THE 



Testimony 



PAGE 
19 

34 
54 
64 
72 
80 

95. 
no 
122 

134 
148 
162 
176 

192 

200 
209 
221 
228 
244 
256 
268 
284 
295 
306 

3i9 

346 
3 6 4 
377 



IX 



HEAVEN REVEALED. 



XI 



A \>\> R EV EATIONS 



,111. 




SWE 




A 1 






11. II. 






A. R. 


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D. L. W. 


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SWEDENBORG QUOTED IN THE FOLLOWING 
PAG 



Aicana ( !celestia. 
I [eaven and Hell, 
Apocalj | e R< i 

icalypse Explained. 
I I . Ine Providence, 
Conjugial I 
I >t Judgment. 
Spiritual I >iary. 
I livine Wisdom. 

trine <>f Life. 
True ( Christian Religion. 
Doctrine <>f the New Jerusalem. 
1 >ivine Love and Wisdom. 

\ii 



Heaven Revealed. 



i. 

SWEDENBORG THE CHOSEN INSTRUMENT. 

MANY people nowadays know something of the 
claims of Emanuel Swedenborg, however deficient 
the great majority may still be in any correct knowl- 
edge of his teachings. It is generally known that he 
claimed, among other things, to have had his spiritual 
senses so opened as to enable him to see and converse 
with the denizens of the spiritual world as men see and 
converse with each other ; and this continually for a 
period of nearly thirty years, embracing the ripest por- 
tion of his earthly life. He made no secret of this 
claim, extraordinary and startling as he knew it to be; 
but boldly announced it on every suitable occasion, and 
repeatedly in his published works. In the commence- 
ment of his treatise known as " Heaven and Hell," oc- 
curs the following explicit declaration: — 

"The arcana revealed in the following pages are 
those concerning heaven, together with the life of man 
after death. The man of the church at this day knows 
2 *3 



14 // i r.n. 

ly anything about heaven or hell, nor yet about 
own 1 r death, although these things are all 

in the Word Nay, many even among those 
who were born within the church deny these things, 
Baying in their hearts. Who has ever come thence and 
rt, therefore, Mich a negative principle, 
which rules especially among those who possess much 
worldly wisdom, should also infect and corrupt the sim- 
irt and faith, it has been granted me to asso- 
ciate with angi Is and to converse with them as one 
man with another, and also to see the things which are 
in tin: heavens as vail as those which are in the hells, 
and this for the space of thirteen years; so that I can 
ibe them from what I have myself seen and 
rd, — which I do, in the hope that ignorance may 
thus be enlightened and incredulity dissipated." 

Tin- same claim in substance is often repeated in his 
writ And he tells us how this extraordinary privi- 

, ranted him, or in what way this alleged open 
urse with the inhabitants of the other world was 
ted [twas through the providential opening of 
1 piritual senses. These senses, he says, belong alike 
y human b ing. They are inherent in the very 
a of an immortal spirit — are included among 
or capabilities, just as natural sight, hearing, 
., are included in the capabilities of our (na- 
nism. And although these senses (for a wise 
and beneficent purpose which he has repeatedly ex- 
plained) are ordinarily closed during our life on earth, 
I max- be and repeatedly have been 
I in men while living in the flesh. And when 
adividual is for the time intromitted into 



sii RG THE Cliosr. x INSTRUMRA 15 

the spiritual world, and enjoys a sensible perception of 
its people and objects.* 

We know very well how this claim is commonly re- 
garded by those who have never examined the seer's 
disclosures with sufficient thoroughness to enable them 
to form an intelligent opinion of his pneumatology. 
They look upon his alleged open intercourse with spir- 
its, as not only improbable, unreasonable and unsus- 
ceptible of proof, but as evidencing a want of mental 
balance — as, indeed, a species of monomania. Many 
who do not believe him a willful impostor, and who are 
ready to admit (for popular opinion is beginning to lean 
this way) that he saw truth on many subjects quite in 
advance of his age, treat with contempt and derision his 
claim to open intercourse with angels and spirits ; as if 
such visions as he has recorded were to be reckoned 
among things highly improbable if not impossible, and 
the record itself to be accepted as evidence of mental 
derangement. 

This is the attitude of nearly every one in reference 
to the great Swede's alleged intercourse with the deni- 
zens of the other world, before he has given much 
thought to the subject, or has examined the evidence 
by which his claim is supported. It was substantially 
the writer's own attitude before he had made himself 
familiar with the general character of the seer's disclos- 

* The Bible furnishes evidence of the existence of spiritual senses in 
man, and of their having been occasionally opened during his earthly 
sojourn. See 2 Kings vi. 15-18; and other texts cited in the chapter on 
" The Rationale of Spirit-seeing " in Doctrines of the Neio Church by the 
author, pp. 208-213. 



//. I \LED. 

&d had duly considered the facts and laws which 
rlie his pneumatology, and prove it not only credi- 
but indisputably true. 

Bui lenborg's claim to a special illumination and 

n 'if allowed), we shall be told, stamps his 
disc: with the character of a divinely authorized 

And not only do people nowadays find it 
hard to believe in any new revelation (multitudes are 
ing to disbelieve in any revelation, unless its truth 
can ntifically demonstrated), but the claim itself 

seems t< i them ridiculous, and quite sufficient to dis- 
credit him who makes it; sufficient, indeed, to prove 
him a deluded fanatic or a wicked impostor. Nor are 
we surprised at this, seeing how many "false Christs 
and fai^e prophets " — how many pretenders to a special 
divine commission — have from time to time appeared, 
and how many have been deceived by them. But peo- 
ple do not reason thus on other subjects. On the con- 
trary, the>- admit that a counterfeit is conclusive evidence 
that there is such a thing as genuine coin. 

It is quite true that Swedenborg's disclosures come to 
idly as a new and divinely authorized revela- 
: relation, however, not contrary nor supple- 
men' i the Sacred Scripture, yet necessary to its 
complete fulfillment and to the better understanding 
and fuller y of its teachings; a revelation meant 
and fitted for the spiritual edification of all who are 
ing for instruction on the sublimest themes, and are 
willing to receive it. But these disclosures, notwith- 
standing tl ne professedly as an authorized reve- 
lation, claim no authority and ask no consideration 



TRUMENT. 17 

merely on that ground. They ask to be receive d sol 

upon the ground of their intrinsic reasonableness, or 
their clearly perceived agreement with the deepest in- 
tuitions of human reason and the verdict of the most 
enlightened understanding. They appeal to no miracu- 
lous evidence in attestation of their truth, but to evi- 
dence of a higher kind. Scripture, reason, analog)', ob- 
servation, history, individual experience, well-authenti- 
cated facts, the principles of sound philosophy, the 
known laws of our mental and moral constitution, the 
wisdom and beneficence of God as revealed in his Word 
and works and in the wondrous ways of his Providence 
— these are the witnesses which are confidently ap- 
pealed to. What if these should all unite in affirming 
the validity of this man's claim and the truth of his dis- 
closures? Shall we reject or disregard the concurrent 
testimony of such witnesses? 

Already there is a large and continually increasing 
class of minds — among them are persons by no means 
deficient in intellectual grasp, logical acumen or judicial 
candor — who, after years of careful examination of the 
disclosures in question, have been constrained to ac- 
knowledge their truth ; and this, too, in spite of the in- 
fluence of early education, preconceived opinions, popu- 
lar prejudice, the sneers of the multitude, and the pity 
if not the frowns of near and valued friends. When all 
this is duly considered, we submit to the honest and in- 
dependent seekers after truth, whether it does not enti- 
tle this new revelation to, at least, a candid examination. 
Certainly the acceptance of any revelation or theory 

by wise and good men, is not sufficient evidence of 
2* B 






//. V RE I D. 

truth; for wise and good men have sometimes 
embi error, — yes, and clung to it with surprising 

But the profound conviction of many such 

men, is t we think, a sufficient reason for giving their 

indid examination before pronouncing them 

Our judgment is unintelligent, and there- 
valueless, until we have carefully weighed the evi- 
dence which carried conviction to their minds. The 
5, when they crucified the Divine Saviour, knew not 
what they did. And Christians at the present day know 
as little what they dn f when, without serious examina- 
tion, or any weighing of the evidence, they reject and 
ridicule the disclosures made through the Swedish seer. 
May th in this be imitating the example of the 

• closel\' than they imagine? 
But the very claim, we are told, which Swedenborg 
up — the claim to have enjoyed long and open in- 
e with the spirits of deceased men, and to have 
been thereby enabled to reveal the arcana of the spirit- 
ual world, is of itself sufficient to stamp him as a de- 
1 fanatic. It is assumed that such intercourse is 
impossible in the nature of things; and on the ground 
of this assumption, Christians proceed to justify them- 
I ' ct to examine his disclosures. But 

a sufficient justification, or if Swedenboi 

/idence of self-delusion, then what is to 

I aiah and Ezekiel and Paul and John and a 

ient worthies? If the mere fact of his claim- 

with spirits, is sufficient proof of 

mental aberration in his ease, then why should not a 
simil evidence vf a similar men- 



\NSWL IQ 

tal condition in the case of all other seers? Or will it 
be said that what was once reckoned among the creden- 
tials of heaven-illumined prophets, is now to be re- 
garded as evidence oi mental hallucination? 



II. 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

IT is quite common to hear urged against Sweden- 
borg's claim, such objections as these : That, after 
the closing of the sacred canon, there was never to be 
any further revelation ; that his disclosures concerning 
the other world, if true, would be a revelation of mys- 
teries which no one has a right to pry into or know 
anything about; that it would be an unveiling of the 
" secret things" which belong to God, and are no con- 
cern of ours. 

But what reason have we to believe that God has 
limited Himself to precisely that measure of revealed 
truth vouchsafed to the world many centuries ago? 
Where is it written that He will never make any fur- 
ther revelation concerning Himself, his kingdom, or the 
grand realities of the spiritual world? The Bible con- 
tains no such declaration — no warrant, indeed, for any 
such belief. What reason, then, for believing that the 
Heavenly Father has denied to Himself the delight of 
communicating, or to men the blessed privilege of re- 
ceiving, more truth concerning that world beyond the 
tomb which is to be the final home of all his children ? 



2o //• V REVEALED. 

What reason for the belief that everything was revealed 

CentUli . which ever was or ever is to be revealed? 

And if it should please God to lift the veil, and make a 

ire of things met secret, is it presumptuous for 
mortals to look upon them? However unlawful it may 
be to pry into the mysteries of the spirit-world, it surely 
cannot be wrong to receive with thankfulness such dis- 
lires as Infinite Wisdom has been pleased to make. 
True, it is written that "secret things belong unto the 
Lord our God;" but it is immediately added: that 
,4 tho>c things which are revealed, belong unto us and 
to our children forever." (Deut xxix. 29.) 

And if there be a spiritual world (and the Scriptures 
plainly teach that there is), is it not reasonable to be- 
: that more will ultimately be known about it, than 
mmunicated to Christians 1800 vears aero? Have 
we not reason to expect that the time will come when 
the mysteries of that world will be unveiled and its sub- 
lime realities d\- I —at least to man's, mental or 
moral vision? Christ told his immediate followers that 
He had many things to say unto them, which they were 
not able to bear (John xvi. 12); but lie never intimated 
ame inability would belong to his disciples 
ughout the coming ages. On the contrary, 1 le more 
1, and on more than one occasion, that more 
truth m ome day be expected than it was expedi- 
ent at that time to impart. 1 le told them that the time 
when Me would no longer speak in para- 
. but would show them plainly of the Father. He 

told them of a Comforter which lie would send unto 
them, u even the spirit of truth ; " and this Comforter, I le 



ANSWERED. 2 1 

said, when He came, would teach them all things, would 
show them things to come, would guide them into all 
truth. (John xvi. 7-13.) 

He spoke also of another coming of Himself, more 
searching, more glorious, more powerful in its operation 
upon the minds and hearts of men than his first appear- 
ing — a coming which He said would be "with power 
and great glory.'' 

Now, who can say, in limine, that, in these prophetic 
intimations, no reference was had to that grand system 
of religious truth which was unfolded, or came profess^ 
edly as a new revelation, more than a century ago ? 
Who can say that the increasing light upon all subjects 
which has been flooding the world for the last hundred 
years, is not a veritable fulfillment of these prophecies, 
and in the sense intended ? Who knows but the many in- 
teresting disclosures made through Swedenborg con- 
cerning the spiritual world, may be among the things 
which the Saviour had to announce, but which the men 
of 1850 years ago were " not able to bear" ? Christ de- 
clared Himself to be "the Way," "the Truth," "the 
Life," "the Light of the world," "the Light which en- 
lighteneth every man." And the apostle John says : 
"God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." May 
not the predicted second coming of Christ, then, be the 
coming to human minds of more abundant light from 
Him who is declared to be "the true Light"? — of light 
more interior, searching and glorious than has hitherto 
dawned on our world ? — the light of the spiritual sense 
of the Word breaking forth through the cloud of the 
letter, — coupled also with the coming to human hearts 



\LED. 

■ re Christ-like spirit? And may not 
tin- light reveal, among other things, the nature, laws 
and phenomena of that world which is to be our eternal 
Who knows, we say, but spiritual light 
— the light of the New Jerusalem which is beginning 
to gild and gladden with its splendors the 
Id's moral horizon — light manifesting itself amid 
xisting error, the mists of ignorance, su- 
• don and prejudice, the smoke of demoniacal pas- 
sions and enmities — may be precisely what the Saviour 
red to when lie spoke of a second coming of the 
Man u in the clouds of heaven, with power and 
great t Who knows? And the way to acquire 

such knowledge is not, we submit, to treat with indiffer- 
ence or neglect everything that claims to be a new 
revelation, but to u watch M — not with the eyes of the 
.-, but with the eyes of the mind, that is, with our in- 
tellectual and reasoning faculties. 

We shall find, on careful reading and a thoughtful 
Consideration of the whole subject, that the language of 
the New Testament clearly requires, for its complete 
fulfillment. h revelation as that claimed to have 

been made th: the seer of Stockholm. The past 

rv and present state of the Christian church also, 
and the acknowledged ignorance of teachers of the 
Christian religion concerning the spiritual world, justify 
the same expectation. 

The Bible, it is generally conceded, teaches the im- 
tality of t ul — the immortality of man. The 

fair and logical conclusions from which are, that the 

SOUl, when the body dies, still continues to live in its 



77 (V. \NSWERl . 2 J 

own congenial realm which is spiritual, that is, homo 
geneous with itself; that this, therefore, necessitates the 

existence oi a supersensuous or spiritual world vastly 

more populous than that in which we are now living, — 
a world into which tens of thousands of human beings 
are consciously introduced every hour; not a mere 
dream-land, or a region of unsubstantial shadows, but a 
real world inhabited by a countless host of rational and 
immortal spirits who were once invested with material 
bodies like our own. And this, too, is generally conceded. 
But ask the ministers of Christ to-day — the ministers 
of that religion which is claimed to have brought " life 
and immortality to light" — about the spiritual world. 
Ask them in what condition we may expect to find our- 
selves when we shall have " shuffled off this mortal 
coil." Ask them if we shall still be in the human form, 
having eyes, ears, hands, feet, and other bodily organs; 
— if w r e shall retain the power of thinking, reasoning, 
remembering, loving, conversing and enjoying. Ask 
them if our departed friends still think of us and love us 
on "the shining shore;" if they are near us, interested 
in our welfare, and capable of exerting any influence 
upon us, — and if so, how, or according to what law. 
Ask whether, when we leave these mortal bodies, we 
shall join them in conscious visible association — be re- 
cognized and embraced by them, and recognize and 
embrace them in return. Ask whether the distinction 
of sex is preserved in the great Beyond, what kind of 
social life (if any) exists there, and what the law that 
governs in the association of spirits. Ask whether 
those who die in infancy and childhood retain forever 



24 Ba D. 

their infantile whether they grow to the full 

stature of men and women as in this world. Ask 
ther the righteous who die of old age, continue 

wrinkled, bowed and decrepid there as here, or whether 
i the bloom and vigor of their early man- 
hood. Ask what is the nature of heaven and hell ; 
the delights of good and what those of evil 

spirits (if the latter have any); what constitutes the 

the former, and what the misery of the lat- 

t r. Ask if there be any industries or occupations be- 

I the grave, and what their nature ; and whether 

there exists any sort of connection (and if so, what?) 

between spirits in the other world and men in this 

world. Ask ministers of the Gospel these and a hun- 

I other similar questions (and they are questions 

h the human heart instinctively asks, — nay, cannot 

help asking), and what will they answer? Perhaps they 

will on their opinions — their conjectures ; and these 

may sometimes be quite sensible. But generally you 

will receive, in answer to all such inquiries, a frank con- 

n of entire ignorance. They will tell you that they 

do n tend to know anything about such matters, as 

ling has ever been revealed; and, therefore, they 

cannot undertake to teach with confidence anything 

them. 

And is it liable to suppose that this state of con- 

( about things of such absorbing interest 

nal and immortal beings, will always continue? 

lieve that the ministers of Christ are never to 

have anyti >ut crude conjecture wherewith to an- 

; inquiries upon such lofty and momentous themes? 



XNSWERED. 25 

If ther - spiritual world, according to the universal 

belief of Christians, is it reasonable to conclude that its 
arcana will never be revealed ? Does such conclusion 
agree with what we believe and know of the goodness 

and mercy of God, the wants of the human soul, or the 
progress of our race in knowledge upon all other sub- 
jects ? The human mind has, for the last hundred 
years, made prodigious advances in knowledge of the 
material world, and in the means of satisfying the wants 
and increasing the comforts of our physical life. The 
secrets of universal nature have been steadily disclosing 
themselves, as men needed the knowledge thereof, and 
were prepared to use it wisely. And new and useful 
discoveries still succeed each other almost with the ra- 
pidity of thought. Nor can we fix any limit to this prog- 
ress in knowledge of the material universe. There is no 
limit. To fix one, were to limit the Infinite Himself, or 
to deny the indefinite enlargement and receptivity of the 
human mind. 

Now, seeing that God is perpetually disclosing the 
secrets of this natural world for the benefit of his ra- 
tional creatures, and since the liveliest imagination can 
set no bounds to the increase of knowledge in this di- 
rection, is it reasonable to suppose that all knowledge 
of the spiritual world will be forever denied us ? Will 
the Heavenly Father vouchsafe to his children an un- 
imaginable amount of truth concerning this world of 
matter, and keep that sublimer world of spirit which is 
to be our eternal home, forever shrouded in darkness? 
Will He never reveal to us anything concerning the life 
3 



//. \ // VEALED* 

>nd the grave, save the simple fad of the soul's im- 

: 

Whether we consult reason or revelation, therefore, 
ught to the same conclusion. We find ample 

warrant for the belief that some such disclosures con- 
cerning the other world as are found in Swedenborg's 
pneumatology, are clearly in accordance with the ways 
and workings of Divine Providence, and therefore to 
be expected sooner or later. And how could such dis- 
ures be made without the aid of a human instru- 
ment? 1 low, but by the opening of the spiritual senses 
hosen and duly qualified servant of the Lord, 
and his consequent intromission into that world while 
still an inhabitant of this? How, in short, but in the 
e manner alleged by the illustrious Swede? 
But we are met with another objection — or rather ex- 
r giving no serious attention to Swedenborg's 
pneumatology — which is: That a revelation concerning 
the spiritual world, even if true, could serve no valuable 
purpose; that it is needless, and might be worse than 
; that it could only gratify a morbid curiosity or 
a love of the marvelous, which had better be denied 
than --ratified. 

Those who make this objection, or offer this excuse 

in j n <»f their indifference respecting the dis- 

- in question, do SO, we think, without sufficient 

ideration. din- same persons would hardly be will- 

\\ that the astronomer, the student of the 

mathematics, the inventor or builder of tele- 

. any on ■ ted to the acquisition and imparta- 

tion of know! respecting our solar system and the 



/.V.W/V 

liar universe, is engaged in a useless occupation. On 
the contrary, they would tell us that any pursuit which 
tends to enlarge our knowledge of the material cosmos, 
to make us better acquainted with the heavenly bodies 

and the laws that govern their movements, is a high 
and noble use, even though it add nothing to our im- 
mediate physical comfort. Useless, indeed, so far as re- 
lates to supplying our bodily wants, may be the business 
of those engaged in astronomical observations. But are 
they not ministering to some deeper wants of our nature 
— wants not less real and imperative than those of the 
body? Have not the labors of the astronomer helped 
to enlarge our knowledge of the universe, and thus 
contributed to the growth and expansion of the mind, 
and the consequent intellectual and moral progress of 
our race ? 

But the grandeur of the material universe as disclosed 
to us by modern science, is nothing in comparison with 
the grandeur of that other universe — the universe of 
mind. Planets and suns with all their beautiful laws 
and phenomena, and all their quiet, orderly, rhythmic 
movements, are indeed wonderful ; but the human soul 
with all its endowments — its amazing powers of thought 
and affection, its faculty of boundless growth in knowl- 
edge and virtue, its untold and inconceivable capabilities 
of bliss and of suffering — this is far more wonderful. 
By the side of this, how feeble and almost insignificant 
the glory and grandeur of all material orbs ! How 
much more is this like God himself, than planets or suns 
or aught else in the created universe ! And shall we 
conclude that a knowledge of the universe of souls — of 



//. MED. 

m and laws — can be of no value? 
i | this is know! not worth revealing, or not 

th examining when revealed? Shall knowledge of 
the materia] universe be considered wholesome and use- 
| -enlarg [inching and exalting the human soul 

— and knowledge of the spiritual universe, so much 
and nobler, be pronounced worthless? Is it 
able that the former of these knowledges can reveal 
to US more of God, can more exalt our conceptions of 
his wisdom and love, or tend to bring US nearer to his 
al likeness, than the latter? Can the study of natu- 
ral astronomy enlarge and ennoble the pursuer, and the 
f that higher kind of astronomy which ern- 
es the relations, laws and phenomena of the spir- 
itual spheres, be useless? Is this reasonable, or even 
probable ? 

Again : Let the reader imagine himself a young man, 
intending to emigrate to some foreign country in the 
course of a few years, and to reside there during the re- 
mainder of his life. Would he not naturally desire some 
information about that country, and about the character, 
conduct and condition of its people? Would he not 
wish to know something of their manners and customs, 
their language and laws, their dispositions and habits, 
their occupations and modes of life? And might not 
such knowledge be very useful by enabling him the bet- 
ter fa If for the honorable discharge of his 
dutii i of that country? And suppose the 
country to have been previously visited by some distin- 
guished traveler who had published a full account of his 
of the country itself and the people living there; 



/>. 

would the time employed in reading his hook be con- 
sidered unprofitably spent? Would anybody think, or 
would the young man himself think, that, in reading it, 
he was merely gratifying an idle curiosity? 

Well, then, we ask if the desire for some information 

about that country whither we are all going — going, we 

know not how soon, and going to remain forever — be 
not equally natural, yes, and equally lawful? And can 

we conceive of no higher use for such information, than 
merely to gratify a morbid curiosity? Who knows but 

it may be turned to good account in enabling us to fit 
ourselves more thoroughly for the duties and enjoy- 
ments of our future home? Who knows but a graphic 
picture of both the upper and the nether realms in the 
spirit-land — of life in heaven and life in hell — may kin- 
dle in our hearts a deeper desire for the former and a 
more intense loathing of the latter? Who knows but 
it may quicken our diligence and nerve our energies to- 
ward the attainment of the one and the avoidance of the 
other? It has generally been believed by Christians 
that there exists some sort of connection between the 
present life and the life to come. And who dares say 
that the knowledge of haw our life hereafter is related 
to our life here, can be of no practical importance? 

A wise parent in the education of his children, usu- 
ally has some reference to the part they are expected to 
act when they shall have come to years of maturity. 
And it will not be denied that his knowledge of their 
future duties as husbands, fathers, wives, mothers — as 
members of society and citizens of the state — enables 
him to direct their education more wisely and profitably 
3* 



3° 7/ A 

than he otherwise could. Why, then, should not we be 

able t to OUT own education in 

this the childhood of our being, by a knowledge of the 

>rld into which we are sure of being ushered in our 
more mature manhood — a knowledge of the laws, 
duties, occupations and enjoyments of the spiritual 
:n ? 

\ i n fd of a revelation concerning the other world ! 
Look at the state of the Christian church at the time 

redenborg lived and wrote. Infidelity had well-nigh 
-led ever\- limb, and a cheerless, heartless, withering 
materialism was pressing like an incubus upon her vi- 
tals. Questions had been asked about the future life, 
which the wisest of the clergy were unable to answer. 
Man\- had come to deny, and many more to doubt, even 
the soul's immortality. To arrest this tide of skepticism, 
there was needed just such a disclosure of the future life 
and of the grand realities of the spiritual world, as that 
made through Swcdenborg ; and one accompanied with 
precisely that internal and rational kind of evidence, too, 
which alone could satisfy the demands of a reasoning 
and 

A .lion concerning the spiritual world not 

1! Useless t say you, even if true! Go ask that 

mother as she bends over the body of her departed 

Id, and presses upon its marble brow the last fond 

tribut mother's love: — Ask her if she could find 

n«' in tlie assured conviction that her little one is 

v in the tender embrace of loving angels — yes, and 

br althier, happier, too, and fuller of exuberant 

life and bounding joy than ever before. Or ask that 



tATStVI ;>r 

lowed wife, whose streaming eyes and pallid cheek 
ami languid frame bespeak an agony too deep for 

words: — Ask her, as she sees the coffin lid close over 

the remains of him to whom her affections clung with 

all the devotion of woman's love, whether it would not 
lighten somewhat the burden of her grief, to know 
something definite about that realm which her departed 
husband entered but yesterday : — Ask if it would not 
comfort her aching heart to know that lie is more alive 
than ever before, and thinks of and loves her still ; that 
his spirit is very near and fondly brooding over her own ; 
— breathing into her soul in gentlest whispers the 
blessed influences of heaven (if his heart were set on 
heavenly things); watching over her tenderly, inspiring 
her with generous thoughts and noble endeavors, cheer- 
ing and strengthening her in every good work, and 
ready, perchance, when her earthly sojourn is ended, 
to clasp her again in love's embrace : Or ask that youth 
or maiden who stands o'erwhelmed with anguish by the 
bedside of a dying father, mother, sister or brother, and 
feels as if the extinction of this mortal life were the end 
of human joys and hopes : Or ask that sad and throng- 
ing crowd who mourn the departure of those they love, 
and whose dark apparel is but a faint emblem of their 
darker sorrow, and the funereal gloom that shrouds to 
them the spirit-land, — ask them if a truthful revelation 
of the realities of that world to which their friends have 
so lately gone, would bring no comfort to their riven 
hearts. Ask if they would find no solace in the unwav- 
ering conviction that their loved ones are still near and 
watching over them for good — inspiring holy thoughts 



32 //. V REVEALED. 

and sweet affections and good resolutions and high en- 

IVOr — fuller of life and joy and action than ever be- 
f. re. I >r, ask the thousands who have felt and therefore 

the sustaining power of this new re\'elation in 
times i >f sore bereavement ; — thousands who once looked 

on death with dread dismay, but now contemplate it 
with a cheerful serenity, sometimes even with a holy 
joy. Ask them, and they will tell you the use of this 
revelation — speaking from their own experience of its 
bh They will tell you that not the splendor of 

empires, nor the wealth of kingdoms, nor the honor of 
thrones, nor all the gold and glory of the world, can 
npare in value with the truths they have learned 
-lit the great Hereafter from the writings of the 
Swedish seer. 

And yet in all that we have here said, we have 
scarcely hinted at what we conceive to be the great 
practical value of these disclosures. We mean their di- 
rect influence upon the life of the receiver, here and 
now; their direct and powerful tendency to repress the 
evil and develop the good, and to mould the character 
into a heavenly form. 

Here, then, we close our argument againsf the objec- 
ts and in support of the need and use of this new 
/elation. Here we rest our plea for its thorough and 
serious examination. The candid inquirer will find here 
a pneumatology as rational as it is beautiful; as satisfy- 
ing to the Sternest demands of the head, as it is to the 
int cravings of the heart. And those who have 

studied it most and understand it best, would scarcely 
believed were tin)' to tell half they know of its com- 



n. 

ttisfactions, its great practical value in the 
mation of character. Suffice it to add, that the He 
enly Father who understands our human n 

who knows how to give good and [ifts to his 

children, has mercifully vouchsafed this revelation in 

answer to a i win | want, ami as one power- 

ful, means of drawing his children spiritually nearer to 

Himself and the shining oiks around his throne. Infin- 
ite Wisdom saw the weed, else the revelation would not 
have been made. And the use which it has aire 
performed, the darkness and doubts it has so effectually 
dissipated, the peace and satisfaction it has afforded, and 
the support and solace it has ministered to thousands in 
times of sore bereavement, prove that it is neither the 
creation of a poet's fancy, nor the offspring of a disor- 
dered brain. And if the revelation be true, then it must 
have come from God out of heaven ; and its thankful 
and reverent reception must tend to lead the receiver up 
to Him from whom it came. 

Hut is it true? — is the question. Is there really a 
spiritual world, inhabited by spirits who are not mere 
phantoms, but real, substantial, human beings, with 
spiritual bodies in human form ? If so, where is it, and 
of what concern is it to us ? Are we spirits clad in mate- 
rial vestments which death will shortly relieve us of? 
And shall we then consciously enter the spirit-world as 
living, conscious, intelligent men and women- spirits in 
human form? And has God, indeed, been pi I to 

reveal the sublime realities of that world ? If so, what 
is the evidence which is expected to satisfy inquiring 

and rational minds ? 

c 



//. V REVEALED. 

Th to these qu< . and some of the evi- 

e which we think ought to satisfy candid minds, 
will be given in the following chapt 



III. 
TJ RIGIN OF ANGELS. 

THE subject of angelology, including the origin as 
well as the nature of angels, is one upon which 

Christian ery denomination have written from time 

to time; and on few subjects has there been a more 
lent than on this. And as artists some- 
time- endeavor to heighten the effect of a beautiful pict- 
ure by contrasting it with something hideous, so we 
may be excused for placing the Old and the New doc- 
trine concerning the origin of angels side by side, trust- 
ing that the truth and beauty of the latter may thereby 
be rendered the more striking by the contrast. Such 
presentation, too, will show the need there was of the 
revelation made through Swedenborg. 

All who profess the Christian religion, believe in the 

of angels. They believe them to be spiritual 

— the wise and happy denizens of heaven. They 

ild not deny their existence without denying the ex- 
plicit teaching of the Bible. But the general belief hith- 
erto has been, that angels are created intelligences <A 
different orders intermediate between God and man; 
that th s in the beginning, and have 



77/ 35 

therefore never known any other place of abode than 
the heaven in which they are now living It has also 
been generally believed by Christians that a portion of 
these innocent and happy beings, once rose in rebellion 
tinst the government of heaven, and sought to over- 
throw the Ruler of the universe, and obtain for them- 
selves the supremacy. To this foul revolt they are 
thought to have been instigated by one more wicked 
and powerful, but once more wise and glorious, than the 
; — by one who, 

• in the happy realms of light, 



Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine 

Myriads though bright;" 



but who, 



with ambitious aim 



Against the throne and monarchy of God, 
Raised impious war in heaven and battle proud, 
With vain attempt/' 

It has been further believed that the leader in that great 
rebellion, being defeated in his impious undertaking, 
was cast out of heaven with his rebellious crew, and be- 
came the Prince or chieftain of the bottomless pit — the 

* As to the precise time of their creation, whether prior or posterior to, 
or simultaneously with, the creation of the material world, Christians have 
not been agreed. Nor has there been entire agreement as to their nature. 
The prevalent opinion, however, has been, that they are incorporeal — 
pure spirits destitute of any kind of body, vet capable of assuming a body 
at pleasure. Some have supposed that they have bodies of the purest 
kind of air or ether; and one of the Christian Fathers even went so far as 
to give form to their aerial bodies, declaring his belief that they are 
spherical* 



HEAVEN RE I J A /J.J). 

Satan whereof the New Testament speaks. To quote 
tin from Milton, who reflects the religious beliefs of 
his tinu 

Iim the Almighty p >wer 



Hurled headlong from the ethereal sky, 
With hideous ruin and combustion, down 
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell 

In adamantine chains and penal fire, 
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms."' 

And that prime instigator of the supposed rebellion in 
heaven, along with those who enlisted under his banner, 
are what Christians have generally understood to be 
meant by "the Devil and his angels/ 1 also by "the 
fallen angels." Nor is it in poetry alone that this doc- 
trine respecting the angels, is to be met with. We find 
the same set forth in sober prose by both Catholic and 
Protestant writers. And we are not aware that any dif- 
ferent doctrine on the subject, has ever gained currency 
among any considerable class of Christians outside of 
the small body known as the New Christian Church. 
the Loudon Eucyclopccdia, Art. Angel) 
Now, look at this whole story about the angels, which 
has gained currency in the church and made a part of 
Christian theology — look at it in the light of reason and 
common Does it not wear very much the ap- 

trance of ancient fable? Does it not look like the 
pring of heathen superstition ? For see what it re- 
quires us to believe. First, that God created an order 
(or several orders) of intelligent creatures — pure spirits 
destitute of any form or body, though capable of assum- 
ing both ad Ubitum — and far superior to man in knowl- 



the Origin oi am 37 

uid wisdom, constituting a class of beings inter- 
mediate between the Creator and the human ra< 
:ond, that one of the wisest and most exalted of tfa 
beings, conceived the idea — an idea such as no one hut 

- 

the veriest dolt and monster were capable of conceiving 
— o\ wresting the government of heaven from the hand 
of Omnipotence, and actually waged war against the 

Almighty in the hope of gaining the supremacy; and 
that, failing in the attempt, he and his followers were 
cast down from heaven into the gulf of despair, where 
they still cherish their hostility towards the Ruler of the 
universe. I^ear in mind, also, that this insurrection, war, 
and ejectment from heaven, are predicated of pure spir- 
its — incorporeal beings — creatures utterly destitute of 
any kind of body or shape ! We submit that such ex- 
travagances are the very height of folly and nonsense. 
One w r ould think they had only to be looked at in a lit- 
tle rational light, to be instantly repudiated. 

Let us now turn to the doctrine on this subject as re- 
vealed through Swedenborg. He claims to have en- 
joyed long and open intercourse with the spiritual 
world, and to have made a truthful revelation respecting 
both angels and devils — their origin as well as their 
character and condition. The following are some of the 



* This was the general belief of the old heathen philosophers, as it is 
of the Mahometans at the present day. The ancient Greeks believed that 
the demons (which word was used by them in a good sense) were created 
such, and held a middle rank between the gods and men. Thus Plutarch 
says: "Those seem to me to have solved very many and great difficulties 
or doubts, who place the demons tv ^eaw Qeon> nai avdponuv — intermediate 
betiueen gods and men., 
4 



//A.//-. ///./>. 

things he tells us about the human soul and the origin 
of angels : 

"The spirit of man, or the soul, is the int< rior man 
which lives after death, and is an organized substance 
►iritual, not material], being adjoined to the body dur- 
man's abode in the world," — A. C. n. 1594. 

"The soul which is said to live after death, is none 
other than the man himself who lives in the body ; that 
IS, it is the interior man who acts in the world by means 
of the body, and enables the body to live. This man 
when freed from the bod)', is called a spirit, and appears 
altogether in the human form ; yet he cannot be seen 
with the eyes of the body but with those of the spirit, 

fore which he appears as a man in the world, having 
the senses of touch, smell, hearing and seeing much 
more acute than in the world . . . together with all 
the members and organs that man possesses.' 1 — Ibid. n. 
6054. 

11 From all my experience which is now of many 
years, I can declare that the form of the angels is in 
every respect human ; that they have faces, eyes, ears, 
bn inns, hands and feet; that they see, hear and 

converse with each other; in a word, that they lack 
nothing which belongs to man, except the material 
body. I have seen them in a light which exceeds by 
many degrees the noon-day light of the world; and in 
that light I observed all parts of their faces more dis- 
tinctly and clearly than ever I did the face oi men on 
earth. 

" I have often told the angels that men in the Chris- 
tian world are in such blind ignorance concerning ap- 
is .md spirits, as to believe them to be minds without 
Form, and mere thoughts, concerning which they have 
no other idea than as of something ethereal in which 
there is somewh.it vital. And because they thus ascribe 






77. 

to them nothing human except a thinking princip 
they imagine that they cannot see, b tve 

no hear, because they have no car.; nor 

speak, because they have neither mouth nor b 
The angels said in reply, that they knew such 
exists with man)- in the world, and that it is the prevail- 
ing belief among the learned, and also to their astonish- 
ment anion-- the clergy." — 1 1. 1 1. n. 7 ;, 

"The like maybe said concerning a man in whom 
the church is, as concerning an angel in whom heav< n 
is, that he is a church in the least form, as an angel is a 

heaven in the least form; and further, that a man in 
whom the church is, equally with an angel, is a heaven; 
for man was created that he might come into heaven 
and become an angel. Wherefore, he who has good 
[or is in good] from the Lord, is a man-angel." — Ibid. 57. 

u It is altogether unknown in the Christian world that 
heaven and hell are from the human race. For it is be- 
lieved that angels were created from the beginning, and 
that this was the origin of heaven; and that the devil 
or satan was an angel of light; but because he became 
rebellious, was cast down with his crew; and that this 
was the origin of hell.- The angels wonder very much 
that such a belief should prevail in the Christian world; 
and still more that nothing wdiatever is known about 
heaven, when yet it is a primary point of doctrine in the 
church. And because such ignorance prevails, they re- 
joiced in heart that it has pleased the Lord at this time to 
reveal to mankind many things concerning both heaven 
and hell ; and thereby to dispel, as far as possible, the 
darkness which is every day increasing, because the church 
lias come to its end. Therefore they desire me to declare 
positively from their mouths, that there is not a single 
angel in the whole heaven who was originally created 
such, nor any devil in hell who was created an an- 



40 WEN RE VEAL* 

gel of light and cast down; but that all, both in heaven 
and hell, arc from the human i in heaven, those 

lived in the world in heavenly love and faith; in 
hell, those who lived in infernal love and faith ; and that 
hell in the whole complex is what is called the devil 
am I :." — 1 1. 1 1, n. 31 1. 

"That heaven is from the human race may be further 
evident from this, that angelic minds and human minds 
are similar. Both enjoy the faculty of understanding, 
perceiving and willing. Both are formed to receive 
heaven; for the human mind is capable of wisdom as 
well as the angelic mind ; but it does not become so 
in the world, 1> it is in an earthly body, and 

in that the spiritual mind thinks naturally. 

" From the- rvations it maybe seen that the in- 

ternal of man, which is called his spirit is, in its essence, 
an angel ; and when released from the earthly body it 
is in the human form the same as an angel. But when 
the internal of man is not open above but only beneath, 
then after its release from the body it is still in the 
human form, but hideous and diabolical ; for it cannot 
look upward to heaven, but only downward to hell." — 
Ibid. n. 3 [4. 

Such is Swedenborg's uniform teaching on this sub- 
ated many times in his writings. Through- 
out all his theological works, which occupied him nearly 
thirty years in writing, we find nothing at variance with 
us now examine his assertions in the light of 
; And Scriptur 
Idie sum of what is taught in the passages we h 
quoted, is : That man was created with the capacity of 

an angel, and consequently of enjoyin 
nal 1 BSS in heaven : That the soul or spirit which 



ORIGIA LS. 41 

ntinues to live in the spiritual world after the body 
dies, is in the human form, and is the real man or 

woman: That all the angels who arc also in this form, 
having a spiritual and substantial organism, are from the 

human race, and were once inhabitants of this or some 
other earth ; and the same is true of the devils: Conse- 
quently no angel or devil was ever created such ; but 

every individual in heaven and in hell, has once had his 
ule or commenced his existence in the natural realm. 
Angels, therefore, are more perfect or fully developed 
men ; and men — good men — arc angels in embryo. 
The spiritual or heavenly is evolved from the carnal or 
earthly man, by an orderly divine process known to 
Christian theology as regeneration. 

Now, is there anything unreasonable in this, as we 
have seen there is in the old doctrine ? Is there not, 
on the contrary, something in it which strikes us agree- 
ably on its first announcement ? — Something which 
avouches its alliance to the general tenor of all God's 
arrangements? — Something which tallies with that uni- 
versal law under which' the higher and more perfect are 
successively evolved from the lower and less perfect 
forms of being? 

All Christians believe in the immortality of the soul; 
and the soul or spirit is the real man. They all believe 
that the soul does not die, but survives when its mate- 
rial vestment has crumbled to decay. And if man, after 
the death of the body, continues to live as tnan y en- 
dowed with human attributes — possessing human affec- 
tions, dispositions, thoughts and feelings — then he must 
exist in the human form. For to suppose human char- 
4* 



42 HEAVEN i 

act i exist apart from the human form, 

were contrary to all reason and all analoj 

Christians also believe that the world which every 
after death, is a higher and more per- 

1 than the one in which we are now living. If 
thi >, then the good man should be a better man — 

• uld be in a higher state as to affection and thought 
— in the other world than he is or has been in this. lie 
should be more perfectly human in disposition and 
character, more wise, kind and loving; therefore he 
should be more truly human in farm. In short, he 
should be in all respects a more perfect man than lie 

IS while on earth. In other words, he should be an 
angel. ( Otherwise there would not be that perfect agree- 
ment between himself and the increased perfections of 
the other world, which might reasonably be expected. 

The new doctrine that angels arc from the human 
race, and that good men are embryo angels, has the un- 
deniable testimony of reason and analogy in its support. 
For no law is more clearly revealed in the volume of 
nature, than that of progress from the imperfect and 
rudimental to the perfect and mature; — from the lower 
and simpler to the higher and more complex forms of 
b inj . Where among all the works of God, do we find 
any living thing created full-formed and perfect in the 
b ginning? There is no such thing. Every creature 
that swims, walks or flies, and every tree and plant that 
om the bosom of the earth, commences its ex- 
in a comparatively simple and imperfect form, 
and <>n increasing in complexity and perfection as 

it advances towards the end for which it was created. 






I'll 

It is known to scien :e that all animals comm< nee their 
stence from which arc quite uniform in their 

shape ami structure There is, therefore, a stage in 
man's existence, when, to human eyes, he does not dif 

tially from the nulimcntal form of a fish, a IV 
or a viper. But as life unfolds from this primary form, 
the animal unde various changes, gradually ascend- 

ing from lower and simpler to higher and more complex 
forms, or passing from a less to a more perfect state. 
A familiar illustration of this universal law, is seen in 
the changes which insects undergo before reaching the 
perfected form of butterflies. First, the egg; then suc- 
ceeds the larva or worm, which is a higher form of life 
than the egg; next, the caterpillar; then the pupa or 
chrysalis ; lastly, the creature dies — on the outside, at 
least — and out of that dead covering springs a beautiful 
butterfly, the perfected form of this insect life. And 
similar is the case with every other form of life whether 
belonging to the animal or the vegetable kingdom. 
From a simple, rudimental and comparatively imperfect 
form, it goes on steadily unfolding, and gradually as- 
suming one that is higher and more perfect, until it 
reaches the end of its creation. 

And the case is similar with man regarded merely as 
an inhabitant of the natural world, and as standing at 
the head of the animal kingdom. Scientists tell us 
that, previous to birth, he undergoes a variety of 
changes, and at different stages in his development 
simulates the forms of various lower orders of animals. 
However this may be, we know that at the time of birth 
he is but feebly and imperfectly developed. In his 



44 Bi 

rudimental or infantile form, some of the organs which 
belong to him in his mature state are wanting, and 

others are very imperfect or but partially formed. Yet 
his form in general is human. There is the rudiment 
man. Bi to the higher capacities of his nature — 

to those intellectual and moral powers which to 

him the supremacy over all other ires, and are the 

sential human characteristics — the}- do not manifest 
themselves at all at birth. No livin iture is more 

stitute of the properly human faculties, than a new- 
born babe. Hut as this rudimental form unfolds I 
neath the salutary influences of heaven and earth, the 
man gradually comes forth, and inc - in wisdom 

and in statu: 

This law, then — the law of progress from the lower 

to the higher, or from the less to the more perfect, in 

. ndowedwith life, until it reaches the ful- 

ttd perfection of its being — stands revealed on 

e of the volume of nature. Nor do we meet with a 

solitary exception to this law. The Divine creative en- 

y obeys it everywhere. w The principle of progres- 
sive advance, - Prof. Bush, " from the imperfect to 
the finished, from the rude to the refined, from the in- 
fantile to the mature, from primordial elements to elab- 
orate formations, from tender germs to ripened fruits, 
from initial workings to ultimate consummations, is 
rywhere apparent." Yet what a palpable contradic- 

:i of this great law, is the doctrine that - were 

h, full-formed and perfect in the begin nin 

R asoning analogically, therefore, we are brought to 
the concl that angels, like all other created bein 



Hi 45 

must have had their initi rudimental state Wh 

and what was thai •? Where and what was the 

rudimental or embryo angel? Can the Old Theol< 
wer this question? And if this world is not our 

final home, if we were created to live forever in another 

and a higher realm, what shall we be in that higher 

lm? — provided that we her y the laws of our 

her lite, and thus give to our spirits a right direc- 

1 in this their rudimental state. Shall we not be 

more fully developed and more perfect men? Shall we 

be in a higher state of love and wisdom — nearer the 

moral likeness of the Creator? In a word, shall we not 

be angels ? 

Reason and analogy, then, are clearly in favor of 
Swedenborgs teaching respecting the origin of angels, 
and as clearly opposed to the commonly received doc- 
trine. Let us now turn to the Scripture and see what 
is its testimony on the subject. 

And we remark first, that the Bible nowdiere speaks 
of the creation of angels. It tells (in the literal sense) 
of the creation of everything else, of the sun and moon, 
the earth and the seas, the vegetable and the animal 
kingdoms, and lastly of man the crowning work of the 
Creator's hands ; but never of angels. As to the crea- 
tion of an order of beings intermediate between God and 
men, the Scripture says not a word. 

In the next place, the Bible teaches that " God cre- 
ated man in his own image" (Gen. i. 27). How, then, 
is it possible that there could be an order of beings 
above man ? A different order of beings must ne 
have a different form from the human ; and if so, they 



4 r > //. D. 

w< uld not be in the image of God Stretch your im- 

ion to the uti ou cannot conceive of an 

i superior to man, yet diflfi From him 

in outward form. For in so far as their form should 
differ from the human, they would not be in the image 

their Creator ; and therefore they would be' inferior to 

man, unless we admit that an order of beings created in 

the Divine likeness, may be inferior to another order 

ited in the likeness of something else — an admission 

which would be most absurd. For God is the only per- 

I I )ne. Among finite beings, therefore, those must 
be most exalted and perfect who most nearly resemble 

Him. 

Is it said that a moral likeness to his Maker is what 
is referred to in Gen, i. 2J ? Be it so. But who needs 

to be told that, among created objects, the form is ever 
in correspondence with the essence? — That this is a 
sovereign and universal law in creation? Even chil- 
dren know that the properly human characteristics can- 
not exist under the form of a fish or a crocodile — un- 
der any form, indeed, other than the human. 

•. We can conceive of a race of wiser and better 
men than any now existing, but the}- will not be a dif- 
ferent order of bein s, They will be simply an im- 
proved variety of the same order, more truly human, 
l feet men both in their internal character and 
their outward form. They will still be men, and all 
the more SO for ; truer liken. of their Maker. 

Tli in G 'ore, warrants the assertion 

that t: tld cannot be any such order of I 

n God and man as Christians have sup: an- 



Tlir ORIGIN OF .W 

gels to be; for the human form is th ion of all 

forms, and true human lite, therefore, the perfection of 

all life; ami a good man such as an angel is declared to 

is the perfection ot created beings. 
That this conclusion is legitimate, may be further 

lied from the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ in 
whom dwelt "all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," 
was in the form of a man, not only while lie taberna- 
cled in the flesh, but when lb- subsequently appeared 

in the spiritual realm to the opened eyes of his disciples. 
A fact which proves that the human form is capable of 
receiving the divine love and wisdom in all fulness. 
Hence it must be the perfection of all forms; and 
ampng created beings, therefore, there cannot be any 
higher order — any nearer to the Divine image and like- 
ness — than man. 

But we have further and more conclusive evidence 
from Scripture. For many instances of the appearance 
of angels to men in the flesh, are therein recorded; and 
in every such instance they appeared in the human 
form — as viol Not only so, but they are often called 
men by the inspired writers. Thus when the Lord ap- 
peared to Abraham in the plains of Mam re through the 
medium of angels, it is said: " And he lifted up his 
eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him " 
(Gen. xviii. 2). So of the two angels that appeared to 
Lot as he sat in the gate of Sodom. These arc after- 
wards called men. The Sodomites inquiring after them, 
said: "Where are the men who came in to thee this 
night" (Gen. xix. 5)? And Lot said: "Unto these 
men do nothing " (v. 8. See also vs. 10, 12, 16). Again, 



48 HEAVEN RE\ !\ 

when the angel of the Lord appeared to the wife of 

Manoah, it is said: "The woman came and told her 
husband, saying: A man of God came unto me, and 
his countenance was like the countenance of an angel 
1 " (Ju xiii. 6. .Also vs. 9, 10). So, too, the 

an briel whom the prophet Daniel saw in vision, 

is called "the man Gabriel" (Dan. ix. 21). And the 

man whom the prophet Xechariah beheld in vision 
"among the myrtle trees," is immediately after called 
"the angel of the Lord" (Zech. i. 8, 11). Again, when 
the women came early in the morning to the Lord's 
sepulchre, and had entered into it, Luke says: " Behold 
two men stood by them in shining garments' 1 (xxiv. 4). 
And John says that they saw " two angels in white, sit- 
ting, the one at the head and the other at the feet where 
the body of Jesus had lain " (xx. 12) — proving conclu- 
sively the human form of angels and their generic iden- 
tity with the human race. Again, when the seer of Pat- 
mos fell down to worship before the feet of an angel, 
the angel said: "See thou do it not; for I am thy fel- 
low servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of 
them which keep the sayings of this book " — thus plain- 
ly affirming his human nature, and his consequent kin- 
ship to our race. And that an angel is none other than 
a thoroughly regenerate man — one who has attained to 
the full .stature of spiritual manhood and laid aside his 
material body, is evident from his measure as given in 
the Apocalypse. For the inspired apostle tells us, that, 
having measured the wall of the Holy City when he 
was in the spirit, he found it to be "the measure of a 

man [meaning a true or regenerate man], that is, o{ the 



i s 

Rev. xxi. 17). It is as true ill morals as in 
phj that two objects which arc equal to, or havi 

the same measure as, a third, must be equal to each 
other. So if the measure of the celestial city be that of 
a man and likewise <>i the angel, then the moral dimen- 

tis of a true man must be the same as those of an 
angel, and the two must belong to one and the same 
order of created intelligence 

Then consider the myriads of angels whom John saw, 
and whose hymns of thanksgiving and praise he heard, 
when " in the spirit " ; all of whom appear to have been 
in the human form. And not only so, but we are told 
that " a great multitude " of that angelic host, were " of 
all nations and kingdoms and people and tongues," and 
u stood before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and 
palms in their hands." And when it was asked, " What 
are these who are arrayed in white robes, and whence 
came they?" the answer was, "These are they who 
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their 
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" 
— showing that they all belonged to the human race, 
and had once constituted a portion of the tempted and 
struggling ones of this mundane sphere. 

What need of further evidence on the subject, from 
either the volume of nature or revelation? 

But some may ask, What then are we to do with 
those passages in the Bible which speak of u the angels 
which kept not their first estate," but "sinned," and 
were therefore " cast down to hell " ? (Jude vi. 2. Pe- 
ter ii. 4). If the inquirer regards the Epistles as equally 
inspired, and therefore of equal authority, with the Gos- 
5 D 



50 //. V RE\ D. 

pels, we would simply refer him, for an answer, to the 
criticisms of these pas by Prof. M< Stuart, 

whose ortho was never called in qi a, and 

wh i 1 arning and research were such as to place him 

ill th > most rank of biblical scholars. In his 

the Apoc , Prof Stuart, after a very care- 

ful and thorouj animation of these pa 

not hesitate to pronounce them quotations (doubt!- 

>m memory) from the apocryphal book of Enoch, and 
therefore wholly destitute of divine authority (see Stuart 
o)i the Apoc, vol. i., pp. 50-73). The conclusions reached 
by the learned Professor, may be summarily stated 
thus : 

1st That this apocryphal book of Enoch was gener- 
ally known to the early Christian writers — so generally 
as to render it highly probable that all were familiar 
with its contents. 2d. That it was held by them in high 

teem, some of them regarding it as canonical and of 
divine authority. 3d. That the contents of this book 
are o( such a nature as to leave no reasonable ground 
for doubt that the statements in regard to the apostate 
angels made 1))' Judo and Peter, were derived from this 

iree ; for this book makes frequent mention of them, 
of their being bound in chains, kept in darkness and in 
prison, reserved for judgment, and the like; each of 
which circumstances is mentioned by these apostles. 

Such, then, is the acknowledged foundation on which 
this absurd and heathenish doctrine concerning the pre- 
exist nee, apostasy and punishment of the angels rests. 
From the apocryphal book of Enoch as its soun 
through the epistles of Jude and Peter as channels, the 



5i 

docl has flowed into the minds of Christians and 

illy a< 1 for divinely revealed truth. 

And as this book of Enoch is now *ded by all Prot- 

tnt Christendom as utterly destitute of divine au- 
thority, therefore it must be conceded that the passages 
in Peter and Jade's epistles, obviously taken from this 

>k, furnish no support to the absurd doctrine they 
have been so often cite 1 to prove. 

And now apply to eacli of these doctrines — the Old 
and the New — that highest and surest test of truth, its 
obvious practical tendency. Which is most benign and 

wholesome in its influence on the believer's life and 
character? According to the Old view, the angels are 
not tnen t and never were. They are quite outside the 
pale of our common humanity, created another and dif- 
ferent order of beings from ourselves. What matters it 
to us, then, how wise and good and glorious they may 
be? For with all our strivings after the heavenly life, 
with all our acts of self-denial and self-crucifixion, with 
all our patient and persevering endeavors to follow the 
Lord in the regeneration, we can never become angels. 
Our human nature renders it impossible. We are a dif- 
ferent order of beings. 

Nor does the Old doctrine respecting the nature and 
origin of devils address itself to human fears, any more 
than that respecting the nature and origin of angels ad- 
dresses itself to human hopes. For it teaches that the 
devils, too, are a different order of beings from us — dif- 
ferent in their original nature and constitution ; that they 
are fallen angels, and consequently were never men like 



52 H V REVEALED. 

ourselves. Of what concern, therefore, is it to us to know 
the character or manner of life of the devils, since we can 
never become one of them. We belong to a different 
genus. No man, therefore, however wicked and unre- 
pentant, is to be regarded as a rudipiental devil. 

But the New doctrine teaches that both angels and 
devils are from the human race ; that they are all par- 
takers of our common humanity, and were once men like 
ourselves. It teaches that we were all created with the 
capacity of ultimately becoming angels, and that the laws 
of our higher or spiritual nature are the very laws of the 
angelic life. And not only so, but that we shall actually 
become either angels or devils, according as we freely 
obey or disobey these divinely revealed laws. It teaches 
that this present world is the seminary of both the up- 
per and the nether realms ; that men in the flesh are rudi- 
mental angels or rudimental devils. 

Thus the New doctrine brings us into close and vital 
relationship with the angels of heaven. It affirms our 
near affinity — nay, our absolute identity — with them, as 
to our nature or spiritual constitution. It reveals them 
to us as sympathizing and loving brothers, possessing a 
common nature with ourselves, having once like us i 
perienced the bondage ofselfishnessandsin, and through 
.i course of varied discipline suited to each one's state — 
through disappointments and sorrows, through struggles 
and sore temptations, through faith and prayer and re- 
pentance and self-denial — have become cleansed of their 
natural defilements, and elevated to their present state of 
heavenly wisdom and serene peace. Thus the Xew doc- 
trine appeals strongly to human hopes. It discloses the 



THE ORIGIN OF A VGELS. 53 

grand capabilities of our nature, opens up to our mental 

vision sublime and glorious possibilities, and prompts 

us, by the hope of one day becoming wise and happy 
angels, to a resolute and persevering struggle against the 

evils that infest our bosoms. 

And by teaching US that the devils, also, are from the 

human race and were once men like ourselves, the New 

doctrine appeals no less to human fears than to human 
hopes. It discloses to US those marred and distorted 
forms of humanity — the denizens of the nether realms, 
yet created with the capacity of becoming angels — and 
proclaims the solemn truth that we, too, may become, 
yes, sliall become just such inverted images of the Di- 
vine, if we turn our backs upon the Lord and disregard 
the precepts of his holy Word. In the revealed char- 
acter and condition of the devils, we see disclosed our 
own final destiny if we live in the indulgence of our 
natural inclinations, and do not deny self, take up our 
cross and follow the Lord. Thus the New doctrine con- 
strains the believer, through fear of all that is loathsome 
in the character and mournful in the condition of devils, 
to shun the paths which they have trod, to curb the pro- 
pensities which they indulged, to seek " the way, the 
truth, and the life " which they ignored and forsook. 

Yes. Angels and devils once were men. And angels 
or devils we, too, shall become. So teaches the New 
doctrine. And it is for each individual to choose which 
it shall be. A question of deep solemnity and supreme 
moment ! How carefully should it be weighed ! How 
watchful should such consideration make us over our 
5* 



54 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

ts and lives — our dispositions, motives and cherished 
purj 

Considered, therefore, as to its influence on the be- 
r*s life and character — viewed as to its obvious prac- 
tical tendency — which of these doctrines appears most 

thy of acceptation, the ( )ld or the New ? Which has 
nature of infinite Wisdom and Love most legibly 
impressed upon it? Which appears most in harmony 
with the Divine character and attributes as revealed in 
nature and the written Word? Which looks most like 
heaven-descended truth, and which most like the vain 
imaginings of men ? Which is calculated to exert the 
most salutary influence on the soul of the believer? The 
reader needs not our answer to these questions. He can 
answer them lor himself. 



IV. 
THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF HEAVEN. 

FEW terms are of more frequent occurrence in the 
Gospels, than heaven and the kingdom of heaven. 
And precisely what they mean, would seem, therefore, 
to be a matter of some practical importance to every 
r of the Gospels. What is heaven, viewed as to 
ntial nature ? Dr. E. II. Sears asks this question 
the commencement of his learns of Immor- 

tality; and immediately adds : 

"We know of no subject so practical as this. The 
whole business of the present life, with all its discipline 



of labor, v and to pi and ripen us 

h< aven ; and if it shall not do this, life will be a mi 
able failure But i hall we prepare for it, unl< 

knowwhat v. to prepare for? How can we tra\ 

unless we know the point of the comp wards which 

we are steering ? " 

The Chri Scriptures are commonly regard I 

tion from God. They are called, and are belie \ 
to be, the W >f God. And for what end was this 

revelation given? Was it not, primarily, that men 
might be conducted to heaven? — might become happy 
denizens of the kingdom of heaven, and thus realize the 
end for which they were created ? If this be so, — if the 
attainment of heaven be a matter of supreme moment, 
the very end for which the Lord created us, and would 
therefore have us strive for unceasingly ; — the end for 
which He came into the world, taught, suffered, died, 
rose from the sepulchre, and ascended to the Father ; — 
the end for which the church, the ministry, the institu- 
tions and ordinances of the Gospel were established ; — 
the end for which Christians erect houses of worship, 
and assemble there to hear preaching, unite in prayer 
and in songs of thanksgiving and praise; — if heav 
we say, be the great end of all this stupendous machin- 
ery and these sublime events, then a clear understand- 
ing and a well-grounded belief of what heaven is and 
where it is, would seem to be matters of supreme im- 
portance. 

Christians have hitherto believed and taught that 
heaven is a place into which a person may be admitted 
by an act of immediate Divine mercy. Go'ui^ to heav en % 



56 //. re l n. 

therefore (if this old and once popularview be accepted) 

would mean Simply to enter the place called heaven, 

as a man might go to a foreign country, or walk into 

a cathedra] or a king's palace. And if entrance into 
heaven he from immediate mercy, and those who enter 
are admitted to its blissful enjoyments, why arc not all 
admitted, whatever be their character? For God must 
desire the happiness of all, since lie is a Being of infi- 
nite love. If, therefore, going to heaven means simply 
to a place called heaven, and if people are admit- 
ted by an act of immediate mercy, then it is difficult to 
understand why everybody should not go there, — unless 
one accepts the old Calvinistic dogma of unconditional 
election, and believes that it is God's eternal purpose 
and desire that some of his intelligent creatures should 
be for xcluded from the abodes of bliss. 

Now, contrary to the old and commonly received 
doctrine, Swedenborg teaches that heaven is not a 
place, but a certain state of the soul — a state of love to 
the Lord and the neighbor, which is one of spiritual 
likeness to our Maker. It cannot therefore be located 
in any region of space. Being purely spiritual and 

thin men, it e: ivherever human spirits exist that 

are in a heavenly state — and nowhere else. To cite the 
seer's own w< 

<4 It is to be 1 that heaven is not in any cer- 

tain or determinate place, thus not on high according to 

the vulgar opinion, but it is where the Divine is; that is, 
with every one and in every one who is in charity and 

faith, for charity and faith are heaven because the}- arc 
from the Divine." — A. C. n. 8931. 



v. 57 

And speaking of discoursing with the Is on one 

occasion " when the interior heaven was opened to 
him," or in other words, when he was brought into a 

state similar to that of the angels by the opening of the 

interiors oi his own soul, he says : 

44 Let it be remarked that, although I was m heaven, 
still I was not out of myself but in the body, for heaven 
is in man in whatever place ; and so, whenever it 

pleases the Lord, a man may be in heaven and yet not 
be withdrawn from the body." — A. C. n. 3884, 

"The love and wisdom in which the angels arc and 

which constitute heaven, are not theirs but from the 
Lord, and are indeed the Lord in them. . . . The an- 
gels themselves confess that they live from the Lord ; 
and from this it is evident that heaven is conjunction 
with the Lord."— D. C. n. 28. 

44 It can in no case be said that heaven is without one, 
but that it is within him ; for every angel receives the 
heaven which is without him according to the heaven 
that is within him. This plainly shows how much he 
is deceived, who believes that to go to heaven is merely 
to be elevated among the angels, without regard to the 
quality of one's interior life ; thus that heaven may be 
given to every one from immediate mercy; when yet, 
unless heaven is within a person, nothing of the heaven 
without him flows-in or is received." — H. H. n. 54; 
also 400, 518, 525. 

And throughout his voluminous works the same doc- 
trine is everywhere taught : Which is, that heaven is 
within men, and is to be thought of as a certain quality 
of life or condition of the soul — as an internal state y and 
not as an external place. It is a state of spiritual near- 



53 ni, 

ness to, or conjunction with, the Lord; and "conjunc- 
tion with the Lord/ 1 we are repeatedly told, " is effected 

by means of the truths of the Word, and a life accord- 
i them." (A. R. n. 883.) 

Every individual has some ruling love — a love that 
ntinually acts as an impelling force within him, even 
without his bcin^ conscious o( its presence. This love 
IS his lite. It shapes his thoughts and words, and di- 
rects all his activities. The quality of his life, therefore, 

that of his ruling love. Oftentimes this love lies 
deeply concealed, and does not reveal itself to others 
here on earth. But in the Hereafter all disguises are 
thrown off, and the interiors are laid open; and what- 
ever had been assumed for the sake of appearance or 

dit among men, is rejected, and the ruling love is 
made manifest by being acted out. The individual then 
becomes the very image of his love — goes where his 
love leads him, does wdiat his love prompts, seeks what 
his love craves, and is just what his love is, ^ood or bad, 
according to its quality. If heaven, therefore, be a cer- 
tain quality of life, then as surely as a man preserves 
his identity in the Hereafter, or carries his own life (and 
nothing else) with him into the other world, so surely 
must he carry his heaven with him if he hopes for an 
abode among the blessed. 

Jwedenborg not only teaches that heaven is a 

te, but he has clear!)- revealed the nature of that 
or the kind of life that constitutes heaven. He 

[s us that love of the Lord and the neighbor is the 
ruling love of all the angels, and that this love flows 
into their heart., from the Lord, and is similar, therefore, 



01 /. 

to the love that 1 1 all his 

It is the Lord's own influent lii 

within them, and leading them to love what He lov 

and to delight in doing what I fe loves to have them do. 

It is the Divine Love received by the angels so as to 
:ome in them love of the Lord and of each otl 
nee all in heaven are said to dwell in the Lord and 

the Lord in them; for the)' all abide in his love, and 
his love abides in them. Thus they are im; and 

likene fthe Lord, being conjoined to Him by love. 

And we may see from this why heaven is said to be a 
state of conjunction with the Lord; and what is meant 
by the Lord's own words to his disciples : "Abide in 
me and I in you." " lie that abideth in me and I in 
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." u If ye keep 
my commandments, ye shall abide in my love." (John 
xv. 4, 5, 10.) And the beloved apostle says: "God is 
love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and 
God in him." (i John iv. 16.) 

Love of the Lord, then, is the supreme love of all in 
ven. But to love the Lord supremely, is not to love 
Him as a person, but it is to love the divine things which 
proceed from Him — innocence, justice, sincerity, charity 
— all the Christian graces ; and these are really loved 
only by those who practise them as religious duties. 
Accordingly, Swcdenborg says : 

" To love the Lord is not to love his person, but to 
love those things that proceed from Him, for these are 
the Lord with man. Thus it is to love what is itself sin- 
cere, what is itself right, what is itself just; and since 
these things are the Lord, therefore in proportion as a 



man loves them and acts from them, he loves and acts 
from the Lord; and the Lord removes from him things 

insincere and unjust, even as to the very intentions and 
will." — A. E. n. 973. 

Again : 

" By loving the Lord is not meant to love Him as a 
person ; forbythis love alone man is not conjoined with 
heaven, but by a love of the divine good and truth which 
are the Lord in heaven ; and these two are not loved by 
knowing, thinking, understanding, and speaking them, 
but by willing and doing them because they are com- 
manded bythe Lord, and therefore are of use. Nothing 
is full until it is done, and what is done is the end for the 
sake of which the love is cherished/' — Ibid. n. 1099. 

We thus see what is meant by loving the Lord su- 
premely, and how entire!}' this teaching, which is so often 
repeated by Swedenborg, agrees with the Lord's own. 
For He says: " He that hath my commandments and 
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." (John xiv. 21.) 
'• Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." 
(Ibid. xv. 14.) "This is my commandment, that ye love 
one another as I have loved you " (v. 12). And to love 
others as the Lord loves us, is not merely to refrain from 
doing them evil, but to intend and do them good, and 
seek to promote their highest welfare. 

Such is the nature of the love that dwells in the bosom 
of the angels. The Lord's own love constitutes their 
breath of life. In the atmosphere of this love, which 
th not its own but always the good of others, they 
live and move and have their being. From it they think 
and speak, and by it all their actions are prompted and 
controlled. It is the very essence and life of heaven. 



oi . \\ 6\ 

Hut truth o\ corresponding purity and elevation is con- 
joined with this love in angelic minds, as the sun's light 

lonjoined with heat, or as the lungs arc conjoined with 
the heart in our bodies. Therefore the angels are as 
wise as they are good. They act from love, and accord- 
ing to truth which is the everlasting law of love. They 
obey the divine laws of charity because they/ove to obey 
them — because it is their supreme delight to do the will 
of the Lord. 

And the unspeakable bliss of heaven all flows from 
the love which the angels receive and exercise. And 
as we can form but a faint conception of the purity and 
intensity of their love, therefore we can have but a faint 
conception of their exalted happiness. Swedenborg says 
the delights and blessedness which they enjoy are beyond 
the power of language to describe, and such as the natural 
man cannot conceive of. 

11 1 leaven/' he says, " is so full of delights, that, viewed 
in itself, it is nothing but delight and blessedness. . . 
The delights are ineffable and likewise innumerable; yet 
not one can be known or believed by him who is in the 
mere delight of the body or flesh." — IT. H. n. 397, '8. 

11 Heavenly joy, such as it is in its essence, cannot be 
described, because it is in the inmosts of the life of the 
angels. . . It is as if their interiors were wide open and 
free to receive delight and blessedness which is distrib- 
uted to every single fibre, and so throughout the whole 
frame." — Ibid. n. 409. 

" How great the delight of heaven is, may appear from 

this single circumstance, that it is delightful to all there 

to communicate their delights and blessings to each 

other. And because all in heaven are of this character, 

6 



HEAVEN REX D. 

it is obvious how immense is the delight of heaven ; for 
there is in heaven a communication of all with each and 
of each with all. Such communication flows from the 
two ]... f heaven, which arc love to the Lord and 
e toward the neighbor; and it is the nature of tin 
5 to c >mmunicate their delights. Love to the Lord 
is of this nature, because the Lord's love is the love of 
communicating all that He has to all his creatures, for 
He wills the happiness of all; and a similar love is in 
each of those who love Him, because the Lord is in 
them."— II. II. n. 399. 

Now compare the Old with this New doctrine con- 
cerning heaven, and note the contrast. The former 

teaches that heaven is a place, into which people may be 
admitted arbitrarily — suddenly — by an act of immediate 
Divine mercy ; the latter says it is a state of life into 
which people come gradually, and only through volun- 
tary obedience to the laws of that life revealed in the 
Divine Word, The one teaches that admission into it 
is granted as a reward for certain acts done or refrained 
from here on earth; the other, that entrance is effected 
through the normal opening of the interiors by religious 
obedience to the C lazvs of the so///. The one pre- 

sents it as a desirable locality to which the souls of the 
pious will be transferred when they leave the bod)' ; the 
Other, as a certain kind of life that each one must carry 
with him — obscured though it be, and but partially de- 
veloped here below. In the light of the Old doctrine, 
therefore, heaven seems to be an arbitrary gift of God, 
conditioned, it is true, on the receiver's faith and repent- 
ance; while the New doctrine reveals an organic and 
necessary connection between heaven and earth — be- 



tween the I and the man — between the life hereafter 

and the life hen 

Therefore, according to the New doctrine, f to 

heaven \> no obscure or mystical phrase, but i >ne perfectly 
intelligible to the most ordinary understanding. For if 
heaven is not a place but a state, it is obvious that en- 
trance into it can be had only by such as enter into the 

>ng and labor and strive for heaven, 
, is to long and labor and strive for that state 
of life which is heaven. And that state is one of love 
to the Lord and the neighbor — the very opposite of 
man's natural or hereditary state, which is one of su- 
preme self-love. To seek heaven, therefore, is to seek 
the complete subjugation of our natural love of self and 
the world, and the exaltation or establishment of the 
Lord's own love and life in place of it. And this is to 
lose the old hereditary life, and to find a new life that is 
far higher and better. " He that loseth his life for my 
sake, shall find it," saith the Lord. 

And now compare the two doctrines — the Old and 
the New. Which is most rational and which most 
Scriptural? If this seems doubtful to any mind, we 
hope in subsequent chapters to remove such doubt. 
Then look at the two as to their practical tendency — 
their obvious influence upon life and character. Which 
is most wholesome, most stimulating, most benign and 
potent in its operation upon the receiver's mind and 
heart ? 



64 HEAVEN RE VEALED. 

V. 
CHARACTER OF THE ANGELS. 

FR( )M what has been said of the essential nature of 
heaven, it is plain to be seen what ought to be the 

aeral and particular character of the angels — what 
their prevailing dispositions and motives, and how they 
ought uniformly to feel and act. But Swedenborg has 
himself sketched their character in many parts of his 
writings. Let us see, then, whether his sketch be such 
as ought to follow by logical sequence from the alleged 
ruling loves of all in heaven; and whether their charac- 
ter as portrayed by him, be in agreement with the laws 
of love as revealed in Holy Scripture. 

According to his disclosures, no one in heaven de- 
sires any good merely for himself; but it is the delight 
of every one there "to do good and communicate," hop* 
ing for nothing in return. Their highest happiness 
consists in freely imparting their joys to others, lie 
says : 

44 Mutual love which reigns in heaven, consists in 
this: that each loves his neighbor more than himself. 
Hence the whole heaven constitutes, as it were, a single 
man, all being thus eonsociated by mutual love from the 
Lord. Hence it is, too, that the felicities of all are 
communicated to each individual, and those of each in- 
dividual to all : and hence the heavenly form is such, 
th.it every one is, as it were, a kind of centre, whence 
he is a centre of the communications, consequently of 
the felicities, proceeding from all; which take place 
ording to all the differences of that love, which are 



\NGEl 65 

innumerable. And as they who arc principled in that 

e perceive the highest happiness m this circumstan 
that they arc capable of communicating to others what 
they receive by influx themselves, which they do from 

the heart, the communication is thus rendered perpetual 
and eternal ; in consequence of which the happiness of 

h increases in proportion to the increase of the 

I rd's kingdom. 91 — A. C. 2057. 

44 When an angel docs good to any one, he also com- 
municates to him his own good, satisfaction and bless- 
edness, so that he is willing to give everything to the 
other, and to retain nothing. When he is in such com- 
munication, good flows- in with satisfaction and blessed- 
ness to him in a much greater degree than he gives, and 
this continually witli increase. But as soon as the 
thought occurs, that he wills to communicate what he 
has, to the intent that he may obtain that influx of satis- 
faction and blessedness in himself, the influx is dissi- 
pated ; and still more so, if anything presents itself of 
thought concerning recompense from him to whom he 
communicates his good. This it has been given me to 
know from much experience. Hence also it may be 
manifest that the Lord is in singulars, for He is such 
that He wills to give Himself to all; hence satisfaction 
and blessedness are increased with those who become 
images and likenesses of Him." — Ibid. n. 6478. 

Observe it is here said that u good flows-in with sat- 
isfaction and blessedness to him [who wills to give 
everything to others], in a far greater degree than he 
gives ; and this with continual increase." Which agrees 
perfectly with these words of the Lord — spiritually in- 
terpreted : u Give, and it shall be given unto you ; good 
measure, pressed down, shaken together and running 
over, shall men give into your bosom. For w r ith the 



66 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured 
to you again/ 1 (Luke vi. 38.) But if an angel "wills 

to communicate what he has, to the intent that he may 
obtain that influx of satisfaction and blessedness in him- 
self, the influx is dissipated.' 1 And so, in respect to the 
purely disinterestedness of their love, and their desire to 

have others share their blessedness, the angels resemble 
the Lord Himself, whose delight it is to impart of his 
own life and blessedness to his creatures. 

No one in heaven aspires to be great above others. 
No one desires to have others honor or serve him per- 
sonally. All are more desirous of serving than of be- 
rved. " In heaven he is the greatest of all, who 
is the least of all/' says Swedenborg ; ''for whosoever 
wills to be least, has the greatest happiness, and conse- 
quently is the st." Vet " heaven does not con- 
sist in desiring to be least with a view to being the 
greatest, for in such desire there lurks the lust of pre- 
eminence ; but it consists in this, that every one should 
from the heart wish better to others than to himself, and 
should serve others with a view to their happiness, that 
is, from a principle of love that has no regard to selfish 
ends." (A. C. n. 452.) And the Lord says: "Whoso- 

■r will be great among you, let him be your minister; 
and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your 
nl ; even as the Son of Man came not to be minis- 
tered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom 
for many." (Matt. xx. 26, '7, '8.) 

1 I . again, we trace the resemblance of the angels 
to the Lord— precisely as it should be, if the}- are filled 
and animated by his Spirit. 



CIIA: I VGEL 

Then their humility, according to Swedenb< no 

9 remarkable than their unselfish love. Notwith- 
standing their exalted wisdom, transcending by many 

frees that of the wisest men on earth, they are not 
puffed up on account of it. They have no pride of in- 
tellect, no self-derived intelligence, no self-righteous- 
ness. They regard none of the goods or truths they 
possess as their own ; but perceive and acknowledge 
and love to acknowledge that they are all the Lord's, 
and are his free and perpetual gift to them. 

" Because the angels believe this, therefore they re- 
fuse all thanks on account of the good they do, and are 
displeased and recede if any one attributes good to 
them. They wonder that any one should believe that 
he is wise and does good from himself. Good done for 
the sake of one's self, they do not call good, because it 
is done from self; but good done for the sake of good, 
this they call good from the Divine ; and this good, 
they say, is what makes heaven, because it is the Lord 
[for He is within it as its inmost principle. A. C. 1 802, 
3951,8480]."— H.H.n. 9. 

Again : 

" He lives most, that is, most wisely and intelligently, 
most blessedly and happily, who is most confirmed in 
the belief that he does not live of himself; and this is 
the life of the angels, especially of the celestial who are 
the inmost or nearest to the Lord. ... In heaven they 
are the greatest who are the least, and they are the wis- 
est who perceive and think themselves the least wise ; 
and they are the happiest who desire others to be most 
happy, but themselves least so. Heaven consists in de- 
siring to be below all, but hell in desiring to be above 
all ; therefore in the glory of heaven there is nothing at 
all of the glory of this world." — A. C. n. 2654. 



68 III-. 1 1 EN RE l EA t ED. 

This reveals the profound and beautiful humility of 
the angels; and in this consists their real exaltation. 
And there can be no spiritual exaltation of a finite be- 
in-', without similar humility. As it is written : " For 
whosoever exalteth himself, shall be abased; and he 
that humbleth himself, shall be exalted." (Luke xiv. 1 1.) 

The angels are further described by Swedenborg as 
abounding in charity or neighborly love. Under the in- 
fluence of this principle, they seek perpetually to excite 
what is good and true in the minds of men and of each 
other ; and they are ever ready to overlook, or put the 
best possible construction on, whatever the}' perceive as 
evil and false. They have no inclination to spy out 
others' faults, or to condemn any one on account of 
them, but rather to find what is good and true in every 
one. 

"The\' who are in charity, scarcely see another's evils, 
but observe all that is good and true in him, and put a 
favorable interpretation upon what is evil and false. 
Such are all the angels; and they have this disposition 
from the Lord who turns all evil into good." — A. C. n. 
1079. 

"They who are not in charity, think only evil of their 
neighbor! and speak nothing but evil of him ; or if they 
say what is good, they do it on their own account, or 
with a view to insinuate themselves into the favor of 
him whom they flatter with commendation. Those, 
however, who are in charity, think and speak nothing 
but what is good of their neighbor; and this not for 
their own sake, or to gain the favor of others, but from 
the Lord operating in charity. The former resemble 
the evil spirits, and the latter the an gel S who are attend- 
ant on man; for evil spirits always excite man's evils 



C//.1-. R OF TH v. 

and falsities, and condemn him ; whereas angels 
nothing but and truths, excusing what is evil and 

false. Hence it is evident, that such as arc not in char- 
ity arc under the dominion of evil spirits, by whom man 
has communication with hell ; and that such as arc in 
charity are governed by angels, by whom he has com- 
munication with heaven." — A. C. n. ioss. 

Such is the charity in which, we arc told, the an 

arc. And is it not the very spirit of the Lord's own 
Gospel ? Is it not in agreement with the spirit of the 
texts which counsel us not to judge, nor condemn, nor 

think evil of others; and not to be on the watch for a 
mote in a brother's eye, without thinking of the beam 
which needs first to be cast out of our own eye ? 

Look also at the innocence of the angels as portrayed 
by Swedenborg. And this word as employed by him, 
has a vastly deeper and more comprehensive meaning 
than is commonly given to it. It means not mere sin- 
lessness, or freedom from wrong in thought or deed; 
but a state of the highest wisdom, such as only those 
are in who have been brought to see that their natural 
proprium is altogether evil, and that whatever good they 
have is not their own but the Lord's ; and whose deep 
desire and purpose it is to be led of the Lord in all 
things, and who have no desire to lead themselves. It 
is, in short, the very esse of all goodness, for it is the 
Lord's own life in the soul. 

" It is said in heaven that innocence dwells in wis- 
dom, and that an angel has as much of wisdom as he 
has of innocence. That such is the case, they confirm 
by this, that those who are in a state of innocence attrib- 
ute nothing of good to themselves, but regard all their 



;o in: a J EN RE J '/■:.! L ED. 

>ds as gifts received, and ascribe them to the Lord; 
that they wish to be led by Him, and not by them- 
selves ; that they love everything which is good, and 
are delighted with everything which is true, because 
they know and perceive that to love what is good, thus 
to will and to do it, is to love the Lord; and to love 
what is true, is to love their neighbor; that they live 
Eltented with their own, whether it be little or much, 
:ause they know that they receive as much as is prof- 
itable for them ; little, if little be profitable, and much, 
if much be profitable; and that they do not themselves 
know what is best for them, this being known only to 
the Lord, whose providence in all things contemplates 
eternal ends. Hence they are not anxious about the 
future. The\' call solicitude about the future, care for 
the morrow, which they say is grief for the loss or non- 
reception of things which are not necessary for the uses 
of life. In their intercourse with others they never act 
from an evil end, but from what is good, just and sin- 
cere. To act from an evil end, they call cunning, which 
they shun as the poison of a serpent, since it is alto- 
gether contrary to innocence. Because they love noth- 
ing more than to be led of the Lord, and acknowledge 
their indebtedness to Him for everything they receive, 
therefore they are removed from their proprium ; and 
in the degree that they are removed from their pro- 
prium, in the same degree the Lord flows-in. . . . Such 
is the innocence which is called the innocence of wis- 
dom.'— II. H. n. 278. 

We further learn from this new revelation, that the 
angels love even the worst of men, and constantly en- 
deavor to do them all the good they can. They feel 
only tenderest love and compassion for us, even in our 
states of deepest guilt and sin. However we may re- 
sist their hallowing influences, and close our hearts 



Ch ELS. 71 

Jnst the precious things they 1< n ommun 

they never leave us, nor relax their efforts to do us 

>d. They contin ivor to withdraw and 

withhold us from evil to rescue our souls from the do- 
minion of infernal spirits. They do this, because the 
Lord'- own love is in them and in active operation; and 
it is the nature: of this love to do good to all, and to 

k the salvation audi happiness of all. The angels are, 
therefore, in the same ends as the Lord Himself, and 
sire the very things that lie desires. Hence they are 
called his ministers or " ministering spirits." (Heb. i. 14. 
See also Ps. ciii. 21 : civ. 4.) They are images and like- 
nesses of Himself. In them is fulfilled the great law of 
love delivered in these divine words : " Love your ene- 
mies ; bless them that curse you ; do good to them that 
hate you ; and pray for them that despitefully use you 
and persecute you ; that ye may be the children of your 
Father which is in heaven ; for He maketh his sun to 
rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on 
the just and on the unjust. — Be ye, therefore, perfect, 
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." 
(Matt. v. 44-48.) 

Such is a brief sketch of the character of the heavenly 
inhabitants, as portrayed by Swedenborg. And is it 
not precisely such as might be expected, if heaven in its 
essential nature be what he says it is ? Is not every 
trait as here delineated, such as might be inferred from 
the alleged ruling loves of heaven? — such as follows by 
strict logical sequence from love to the Lord and love 
to the neighbor, when these loves rule supreme in the 
soul ? 



?2 111. . 1 1 'EN RE I BALED. 

VI. 
VERDIi T OF REASON AND EXPERIENCE. 

NOW is this doctrine respecting heaven, as thus far 
opened, true? Let us see, — and we will first ex- 
amine it in the light of reason, common observation and 
human experience. 

] lew ever people's ideas of heaven may differ in other 
respects, they all agree in this : that whoever goes there, 
will find great and enduring happiness. The Bible 
clearly warrants this belief. But in what does human 
happiness consist? What do reason, observation and 
experience teach on this point? Certainly that it does 
not consist in any outward appliances of which time and 
space are predicable. It is not those who are most 
comfortably lodged and luxuriously fed and royally ap- 
parelled, who are the happiest. By no means. True 
and enduring happiness is something which the wealth 
of the Indies cannot purchase. For it does not depend 
on the character or condition of things without, but on 
the character and condition of the world within us — on 
the state of the soul. Locate people as you may, place 
them in the midst of the loveliest surroundings, supply 
them with all the elegances, comforts and luxuries that 
wealth can furnish — houses, furniture, equipage, books, 
friends, companions, all that the natural man craves — 
and you will not thereby make them happy. They 
may appear and even esteem themselves happy for a 
time; but it is only an external delight, a merely natu- 
ral gratification which they experience, and which from 



\c'V AND EXPERI1 \ 

its very nature must soon pass away. Every person of 
much reflection or self-intuition, knows that 

" The mind is its OWD place, and in itself 

D make B heaven Of belli a hell of heaven." 

The soul very soon stamps its own complexion on a 
man's entire surroundings. The outer soon acquires the 
color and the key of our inner world ; becomes beauti- 
ful and harmonious if there be beauty and harmony 
within, but ugly and discordant if deformity and discord 
are in the soul. As one of our own poets sings: 

u It is the soul's prerogative, its fate 

To shape the outward to its own estate ; 
If right itself, then all around is well ; 
If wrong, it makes of all without a hell." 

No. It is in vain that men seek, with any hope of 
finding, true happiness from without — from any new po- 
litical, social, economic or industrial arrangements. We 
do not mean to say that some external arrangements 
may not be more useful than others in promoting inter- 
nal and spiritual culture. But real happiness can never 
come from without, but only from within — from a re- 
generate and well-ordered state of the soul, yea, from 
the Lord's own presence therein. It is the normal re- 
sult of obedience to the laws of our spiritual life. Let 
these laws be faithfully obeyed, and the soul is thereby 
opened to an influx of the Divine life, and the man is 
happy under almost any circumstances. But let them 
be violated, and no amount of purple and fine linen and 
sumptuous fere can ward off the evil consequences of 
such violation. The truly good man, however bereft of 
7 



74 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

comforts and luxuries, is never really miserable; nor is 
the bad man, though crowned with abundant earthly 
treasur s, ever truly happy. Lor true happiness never 
comes from without, but depends wholly on the condi- 
tion of the soul. How clearly did Milton see this, when 
he sang in strains no less true than beautiful: 

" He that hath light within Ins own clear breast, 

M iv sit ill the centre and enjoy bright d 
But be that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts, 
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun, 
Himself is his own dungeon.'' 

And another of England's poets says: 

" Know then this truth (enough for man to know), 
Virtue alone is happiness below. 
Condition, circumstance, is not the thing, — 
3 is the same in subject and in king." 

And the same thing has been seen, if not sung, by every 
one who has received from the Creator a single spark 
of poetic inspiration. 

If, then, all who go to heaven are to be happy there, 
and if true happiness on earth comes only from a regen- 
erate and well-ordered state of the soul, the conclusion 
is forced upon us that heaven is not a place into which 
people may be admitted from immediate mercy, but a 
certain state of life. And it maybe further inferred that 
it is a similar state (it may be far more exalted and per- 
fect i to that which is known to be attended with the 
highest happiness on earth. And what is that state? 
Let reason, observation and experience testily. 

Consider that God is Law and Order itself, lie gov- 
erns the material universe by fixed and determinate laws. 



.(•/• OF RE t SdN ./ 75 

Iii every form and condition of matter, laws pervade and 
presid it. We call them laws of matter, but they 

are really the Lawgiver's own vital presence in matter, 
— laws to which lie continually subjects matt \ml 

ry infraction of these laws, we know, is attended with 
more < >r less suffering. ( )ur corporeal frame has its laws 
— beneficent and God-ordained ; and bodily health and 

mfort can be enjoyed only on condition of the strict 
observance of these laws. They cannot be transgressed 
with impunity. If we overwork our bodies or our brains, 
if we indulge our appetites to excess, if we take poison 
(be it food or drink) into the system, if wc breathe a 
vitiated atmosphere or neglect all bodily exercise for a 
considerable time, we must suffer the penalty of every 
such infraction of the body's laws, — a penalty always 
proportioned to the extent of the violation. 

Now, mind has its laws as well as matter. There are 
laws of the soul as well as of the body. And it is just 
as essential to the health of the soul — as essential, there- 
fore, to human happiness — that these spiritual laws be 
obeyed, as it is to the body's health and comfort that 
we obey the laws of our physical being. All these laws 
are divine — are God's laws ; and none of them can be 
transgressed with impunity. If the soul's laws, there- 
fore, be violated, the soul will be sick and suffer, and un- 
happiness will ensue ; as certainly as bodily sickness and 
suffering follow the transgression of the body's laws. 

But where and what are the laws of the soul, on the 
observance of which human happiness is conditioned? 
They are all contained in the Word of the Lord. The 
Word is, indeed, the Book of Life, for herein are recorded 



yG HEAVEN REVEALED. 

all the laws of our spiritual life. Yet some of these laws 
may be rationally inferred. The\- may be learned from 
experience and observation. Since they are God's laws, 
they must all be laws of love, and therefore good ; and 
ii carefully obeyed, they must produce the greatest pos- 
sible amount of happiness. Obedience to divine laws 
can never be attended with unhappincss. This is ever 
the result of disobedience. 

Now every one knows that people are not happy who 
are governed by an inordinate self-love, and who seek 
their own good exclusively, regardless of the good of 
their neighbor. Every one who has not wholly quenched 
the Divine Spirit within him, feels that, in obeying at all 
times the promptings of self-interest — living and acting 
with a supreme and exclusive regard to himself — he is 
not obeying the will of God, nor that law of life which 
God has ordained. He is inwardly conscious of living 
and acting otherwise than the Heavenly Father would 
have him. Nor is he happy — far from it — in the per- 
petual indulgence of his love of self. He is restless and 
sour and hard and morose. And not only docs this love 
make the soul of its possessor unhappy, but its indul- 
gence is attended with unhappiness to others. Its ten- 
dency is altogether evil. Let all men act in obedience 
to its promptings, and universal hatred, anarchy, war 
and wretchedness would be the inevitable consequence. 

Nor are those persons happy who are in the lust of 
dominion — who seek to exalt themselves above others 
and to rule over others ; nor those who pride themselves 
on their attainments, and desire to be esteemed and 
honored above others on account of them ; nor those who 



;/)/(•/' \SON AND EXPERIEM ;j 

cherish hatred and n . who indulge in bitter and 

vindictive feelings toward enemies. All such disposi- 
tions and feelings arc the legitimate offspring of self love, 

and utterly opposed to the laws of life which God has 
revealed for the government of human spirits. And 
from the bosoms in which they dwell, they drive away 
all genuine peace, and induce a restless fever-heat which 
burns and burns to the core of life — a tormenting fire of 
hell. 

Very different is the case with those who obey the 
laws of neighborly love; whose supreme desire is to 
render themselves useful — to do all the good they can 
in the world; who love, and seek to do good to, even 
their enemies ; who have no desire to rule over but only 
to serve others ; who care little for mere earthly rewards 
— the honors or praises of men ; who claim no merit on 
account of what they know or do, but in their hearts 
acknowledge their utter dependence on the Lord, and 
ascribe all the honor and glory to Him. These are the 
truly great, wise and noble ones of earth, however ob- 
scure their names or humble their abode. Viewed in 
the light of that truth by which all souls are to be finally 
judged, they shine like stars even in this world. They 
are the golden links in God's great chain of love, con- 
necting men on earth with the angels in heaven. Men 
call them angels — for some perception of the quality of 
angelic life is vouchsafed to many here on earth. 

And such persons, too, are the only ones who know 
what true and substantial happiness is. They are happy 
because they obey the highest laws — laws divinely or- 
dained and revealed for the government of human be- 
7* 



yS HEAVEN REVEALED. 

ings. And the nearer men approach to this state, or to 
the quality of angelic life as disclosed bySwedenborg — 
the more faithfully they obey all the revealed laws of the 
higher or regenerate life — the more pure, serene and ex- 
alted is their happiness. This has been the universal 
erience of mankind in all ag 
But Swedenborg does not teach that the happiness of 
heaven in all its fullness, can ever be enjoyed on earth. 
We must lay aside the material body before we can arrive 
at the perfection of that state denoted by the term heaven. 
The blessedness experienced here on earth resulting from 
strict conformity to the highest laws, or from the highest 
spiritual state to which we are capable of attaining here, 
is obscure and meagre when compared with that which 
regenerate' souls will enjoy in the world beyond. Ac- 
cordingly Swedenborg says : 

"The man who is in the loves of self and the world, 
long as lie lives in the body feels delight from these 
loves, and also in each of the pleasures to which they 
give birth. But the man who is in love to God and the 
neighbor, does not, so long as he lives in the body, feel 
a manifest delight from these loves and fr^om the good 
affections thence derived, but only a blessedness almost 
imperceptible, because it is stored up in his interiors, and 
veiled by the exteriors which are of the body, and blunted 
by worldly care-. 

" But the states are entirely changed after death. The 
delights of the love of self and the world arc then turned 
into painful and horrible sensations, which are called 
hell-fire, and occasionally into things defiled and filthy 
corresponding to their unclean pleasures which — strange 
to say — are then delightful to them. But the obscure 
delight and almost imperceptible blessedness which had 



FCT OF REASON AND EXPERIEN 70 

>vecl by those in the world who were in love to 

1 and in love toward the neighbor, are then turned 

into the delight of heaven, which becomes perceptible 

and sensible in all manner of ways; for that blessedn 
which lay stored up and hidden in their interiors when 
they lived in the world, is then revealed and brought 
forth into manifest sensation, because they are then in 
the spirit, and that was the delight of their spirit." — II. 
II. n. 401. 

" All goods increase immensely in the other life. But 
man's life while in the body is such that he cannot go 
beyond loving his neighbor as himself, because he is in 
corporeal principles; but when these are removed the 
love becomes more pure, and at length angelic, which 
is to love the neighbor more than one's self. For in 
heaven it is delightful to do good to another, and not 
delightful to do good to themselves unless in order that 
the good may become another's, thus for the sake of 
another ; and this is to love the neighbor more than 
themselves." — Ibid. n. 406. 

Heaven, then, according to the New Christianity, is 
essentially a state of life. And if happiness must enter 
into our idea of it, as an essential element, then it can 
be no other than the very state that Swedenborg says it 
is ; and the angels, if human and subject to the laws or- 
dained for the government of human beings, must be 
of precisely the character that he has so often and so 
vividly portrayed. The nature of the heavenly life can 
be none other than that he describes. This is the clear 
and undeniable testimony of enlightened reason, com- 
mon observation, and all human experience. To sup- 
pose the character of the angels to be at all different 
from that revealed through him — to suppose them pos- 



So ///•;./ 1 v/.v re i v;. / /. ED. 

ssed of different dispositions and feelings, to be actu- 
ated by different motives, to desire and seek different 
ends, would be to suppose them not thoroughly imbued 
with the spirit of the Gospel, not subject to the laws of 
the higher life as revealed in the Divine Word, not inl- 
and likenesses of the Lord, not children of the 
Heavenly Father, and therefore not his ''ministering 

jits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs 
of salvation." 

But what is the testimony of Holy Scripture on the 
subject? We have incidentally introduced some of it 
already ; but we will consider this question more in de- 
tail, and answer it more fully, in the next chapter. 



VII. 
TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE. 

THE next question to be considered is : Does this 
doctrine concerning the essential nature of heaven 
and the character of the angels as delineated by Swe- 
denboi ree with the teachings of the Bible? If not, 

devout and reverent souls will be slow, as they ought, 
about accepting it. But right here, is the place to say, 
that human rationality is as truly the gift of God as the 
red Scripture. And before accepting such an inter- 
pretation of Scripture as would make the Bible contra- 
diet the clear intuitions of reason and all human experi- 
ence, we ought carefully to consider whether it l\oq<> not 



IMONY 0/ SCRIPTURE, 

admit of sonic other interpretation more accordant with 
the testimony of these two witnesses. All who desire 
that the credit and authority of the Bible be maintain 

must desire to see its language interpreted in such a 
manner (if this can be fairly done) as to make its teach- 

[S tall\' with the intuitions of our highest reason. 
Those who give to Scripture such an interpretation as 
requires 'for its acceptance) the annihilation of reason 
or the repudiation of the lessons of experience, know 
not what they do. For in this way the)- are weakening 
the faith of thoughtful people in the divinity of the 
Scriptures, and engendering a skepticism none the less 
real and obstinate for being carefully concealed. 

It is not the least among the merits of the New Chris- 
tian Dispensation, that, while firmly based upon the in- 
spired Word, it is yet a dispensation of rational religious 
truth. It holds that the Bible rightly interpreted, will 
ever be found in complete accord with the teachings of 
enlightened reason, true science, sound philosophy, hu- 
man experience and the well-ascertained laws of our 
mental and moral constitution. If this claim be well- 
founded, we ought to be able to show that the new doc- 
trine announced by Swedenborg and affirmed by rea- 
son and experience, concerning the essential nature of 
heaven, is fully sustained by the teachings of Scripture. 
See, then, if this be not actually the case. " To the Law 
and to the Testimony." If Swedenborg " speak not ac- 
cording to this Word, it is because there is no light in 
him." (Isa. viii. 20.) 

First, it is not to be denied that the Bible, interpreted 
in its lowest or strictly literal sense, often speaks of 

F 



82 N REVEALED. 

heaven as if it were located in some region of space 

The sacred penmen, when treating of it, make use of 
.such terms as are uniformly employed in speaking of 
places. Thus they speak of going to heaven, of looking 

towards heaven, of ascending up into heaven, of looking 

wn and coming down from heaven, etc. — language 
which, understood in its strictly literal sense, certainly 
favors the old idea of heaven as a place. Besides, it is 

metimes called a place ; as where our Lord, speaking 
of the " Father's house" (by which Christians generally 
understand that heaven is meant), says : " I go to pre- 
pare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place 
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; 
that where I am, there ye maybe also." (John xiv. 2, 3.) 
This is one of the strongest passages cited to prove that 
heaven is a. place. "The Bible calls it a/>A?;Y, and does 
not the Bible mean what it says?" — is the usual form 
of the argument resorted to by the old theologians. 

But the Bible, as we believe and as Swedenborg 
everywhere teaches, has both a natural and a spiritual 
sense related like body and soul. The spiritual is the 
true and real sense, as the soul is the true and real man; 
for the Bible was given to instruct mankind about spir- 
itual and not about natural things. Accordingly all 
places mentioned in Scripture, signify, in their true spir- 
itual sense, certain states of life — for place corresponds 
to state. And all words which, in their natural sense, 
refer to places and changes of place, in their spiritual 
sense refer to mental states and changes of state. Thus 
the Bible speaks of certain persons being far from the 
Lord, and of others as being tteOT Him. It also invites 



IMONY OF SCRIPTURi 83 

us to look to Ilim.to rfi to Him, 

Him, come unto Him, etc. And is it to be understood 

from this, as really teaching that some people are nearer 

to God than others as to space, or according to the natu- 
ral idea? Or that, to look unto Him we must turn our 

natural faces to some particular point of the compass? 
— or to follow 1 lim or come UHtO Him, our bodies must 
piss through a portion of space ? This is what it appears 
to teach — what it actually does teach if its words must he 
rpreted in their merely natural sense. 
But ever\- one sees that such a literal interpretation 
would be most absurd. Every one knows that, to be 
far from the Lord, is to be far from Him spiritually — 
distance from Him being difference in state, remoteness 
from that state of pure and unselfish love in which He 
is, and which is Himself. And to look unto Him, is to 
look with the understanding, or the mind's eye, to those 
divine-human qualities revealed in the person of Jesus 
Christ. To follow Him, or draio nigh unto Him, is not 
to pass through any natural space, but to pass from a 
low, carnal, selfish state; to one more internal, pure and 
unselfish — more like that of the Lord Himself. We fol- 
low Him when we obey his precepts — deny self — engage 
in spiritual conflict with the hells within us, as He did 
while glorifying the assumed human. And we thus ap- 
proach nearer to Him by becoming spiritually more like 
Him — receiving more of his own divine-human life into 
our hearts. So, too, when the angels are said to descend 
from heaven to men, we are not to understand that they 
come down through space, but that they descend to men's 
states with heavenly gifts suited to their wants and their 



84 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

capacity to receive; comparatively as a wise teacher 

com WH to the states of little children with instruc- 

tion adapted to their feeble capacity. And when the 
Lord says, u I came forth from the Father, and am come 
into the world ; again I leave the world and go to the 

.-.her," no one understands Him as meaning that He 
came from or passed through any particular region of 
Space* He came by assuming a material body, whereby 
Jle was enabled to descend to the very ultimates of hu- 
manity with regenerating and saving power. And from 
this lowest state lie (as to his assumed human) passed, 
by a process of glorification of which our regeneration 
is an image, through all superior states, even to a full 
and perfect union with the Divine. This is the way in 
which 1 Ie again left the world, as He says, and :,\nt to 
the Father. And in this way, too, He prepared a place 
in the Father's house for all his faithful followers; that 
is, He made possible, henceforward, the salvation and 
happiness of all who should, by his divine aid, be brought 
into states of genuine good and truth however humble. 

But the Scripture furnishes testimony on this subject 
still more explicit and conclusive. We read that the 
Pharisees, on one occasion, asked our Lord " when the 
kingdom of God should come." And this was his an- 
swer : " The kingdom of God cometh not with observa- 
tion : Neither shall they say, Lo, here ! or lo, there ! 
For behold the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 
xvii. 20, 2 1.) Now the kingdom of God and the king- 
dom of heaven mean one and the same thing; for heaven 
IS his kingdom. (Compare Matt. v. 3 with Luke vi. 20: 
also Matt. iv. \j with Mark i. 15 ; and Matt. xix. 14 with 



TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTUR* 

Mark x. 14.) We have, then, the plain testimony of 

Scripture, that heaven or the kingdom of heaven is not 

without but within the soul. It cannot, therefore, be 
located. It cannot he said to be in any particular fi/a 

for it is in all heavenly-minded people wherever they 

maybe. Therefore it must he a state of life. But dors 
the Scripture tell us what is the nature of that state ? 
And if SO, how does its teaching tally with Sweden- 
bora's ? 

And here the primitive meaning of the original Greek 
and Hebrew word for heaven, should first receive atten- 
tion. The I Icbrcw word for it is shama-yim f which means 
the firmament, or the region of space above the earth. It 
comes from an obsolete root shdmd, the meaning of 
which in the cognate Arabic language is, to be high or 
lifted up. And to this Arabic radical lexicographers re- 
fer the Hebrew term as denoting a high locality. The 
Greek ouranos which answers to the Hebrew shdma-yim, 
and is also translated by our English lieavcn, means the 
same as the Hebrew — the region above or the vast con- 
cave surrounding the earth. (See Schleusners Greek and 
Latin Lexicon}) And most philologists derive it from the 
Greek orao y to see — as referring to the space above or 
around the earth, that is pervaded by the light of the sun. 

Heaven, then, according to the literal meaning of the 
term in both the Hebrew and Greek, denotes an elevated 
place. And in the Bible it is said to be high, and to be 
located 071 high. Accordingly, it is common for little 
children to think and speak of heaven as a place up in 
the sky; for it is not to be expected that they should 
think otherwise than according to the sense of the let- 
8 



86 HEAVEN REVEAL, 

ter. And many adults have not advanced beyond this 

natural childish thought Now why is it that a state of 
angelic love and bliss, should be designated in Holy 

Scripture by a word which, in its strictly literal sense, 

means a high place f Swedenborg furnishes a satisfactory 
answer to this question in his doctrine concerning the 

ipture, teaching us that it contains both a natural and 

spiritual sense which correspond like body and soul. 
Accordingly there is natural height and spiritual height; 

or elevation in space, and elevation of state. Whenever 
a high place, therefore, is mentioned in the Word, a high 
mental or spiritual state is what is denoted in the spiritual 
and true sense. 

But what is a high spiritual state? Is it any other 
than a state of elevated thought, affection and purpose? 
— a state of pure and unselfish love ? — a state in which 
we think of and seek after, not merely our own good, 
but the highest good of our neighbor also, in the largest 
as well as the smallest form. Persons of this character 
are spiritually near the Lord, and may well be said to 
dwell on high. They are spiritually on high, for they 
live above the world while in it. Hence it is often said 
of such, whose lives are devoted to lofty and beneficent 
ijnds, that the\- are superior persons — persons of elevated 
desires, exalted views, lofty aims, etc. And the Scripture 
-.nth, "lie that humbleth himself, shall be exalted!' 
Every one perceives that spiritual exaltation is what is 
here meant, or that elevation of state which comes from 
subduing our selfish and infernal propensities — from hum- 
bling self, and permitting the Lord alone to be exalted 
to the supreme place in the soul. 



Tl UPTURi 

The state of life, therefore, in which Swedenborg tells 
us the angels are, is clearly a A*£*A state. I fence we may 
understand why heaven is said to be on high, and why 

the word itself in both the Greek and Hebrew, accord- 
ing to its primitive literal import, means a locality that 

is high. And we may see, too, why man IS said to have 
n made M a little lower than the angels." In his (alien 
or unregenerate state, he is a great deal lower. 

Because the word high when used in Scripture has 

such spiritual signification, denoting elevation of state, 
or purity of love and exaltation of wisdom, therefore the 
Lord is called the Most High, and is said to dwell on 
high, above the earth and above the heavens. Certainly 
natural or spatial elevation is not to be thought of, when 
such things are predicated of the omnipresent Jehovah. 
No. It is because He is the highest as to state or qual- 
ity of life — infinitely exalted above men and angels as 
to the quality and degree of his love and wisdom, that 
He is said to be the Highest, above the earth and the 
heavens. And what is it that really exalts men, or 
makes them spiritually high, but such a reception of the 
Lord's love and wisdom as recreates them in his own 
image and likeness ? This lifts their souls on high. 
We know it is not uncommon for Christians, when in a 
cold, external, or very low state of mind, to pray that 
the Lord would lift them up out of that state. And the 
Psalmist speaks of God's setting certain ones " on high? 
and of others being " brought low H — where it is plain 
that these terms have no reference whatever to space, 
but to mental state. 

But the Bible furnishes still more positive evidence 



HEAVEN RE VEALED. 

concerning the essential nature of heaven. It contains, 
as Christians generally believe, all the laws of our spir- 
itual life. And these laws must be in their nature eter- 
nal as the soul itself, for they are laws of the soul. 
They are spiritual laws, and must therefore exist and 
operate wherever human spirits exist — in the Here- 
after as well as here. Whatever laws, therefore, the 
Bible contains for the government of human beings here 
on earth, are the very laws to which the angelic hosts 
are subject. " Forever, O Jehovah, thy Word is estab- 
lished in heaven," says the inspired Psalmist: Which 
clearly authorizes the conclusion that the truth of God's 
Word is the law of life for the angels in heaven. And 
the Lord I limself, when speaking as the Word incar- 
nate, says: "I am the living bread which came down 
from heaven/ 1 The living bread from heaven can be 
none other than the Lord's own love and wisdom, the 
goods and truths of his Word; and these are Himself. 
These are what feed and nourish the angels, and coming 
down from heaven (that is, being properly clothed, and 
accommodated to our low human condition) give life — 
spiritual and eternal life — to the world. To receive the 
goods and truths of the Word in such a manner as to 
make them of our life, to have our souls filled and vital- 
ized b)' them, is to receive the Lord Himself. It is to 
eat his flesh and drink his blood. This is " the bread 
of life" — "the true bread from heaven." " If any man 
eat of this bread, he shall live forever." And there can 
be no true spiritual life without it. " Except ye eat the 
fle.^h of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no 
life in you," saith the Lord. That no material flesh or 



TESTIMONY OF SCAIPTUR* 

blood is here meant, but the good of the Lord's own 
love .uul the truths of wisdom with which his Word is 
all aglow, is plain enough ; for, as if to place the mean- 
ing beyond all doubt, this is immediately added : " It is 
the spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothin 
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and 
they are life." (John vi. 51-63.) And so we have Di- 
vine authority for affirming that the Lord's words are 
the living bread of heaven — the food on which the an- 
gels live. 

Furthermore, we are taught to pray that the Lord's 
will may be done on earth as it is done in heaven. 
What can this mean but that men on earth should de- 
sire and seek after the life of heaven ? — Should cherish 
such loves as the angels cherish, act from such motives 
as the angels act from, aim at such ends as the angels 
aim at, and in all things endeavor to conform their 
lives to the revealed laws or will of the Lord as the an- 
gels do. 

Now if we can learn from the written Word what is 
the essential nature of the life which men on earth are 
capable of receiving, and which God desires they should 
receive, we may then know what kind of life the angels 
receive, or what is the essential nature of heaven. In 
other words, we may learn how the angels live, by see- 
ing how the Lord requires those to live whom He de- 
sires and is endeavoring to make angels. 

We read in the prophecy by Micah: " He hath 
showed thee, O man, what is good ; and what doth Je- 
hovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love 
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (vi. 8.) 
8* 



90 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

And in tl pel by Matthew: "Thou shalt love the 

Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind. This is the first and great com- 
mandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself On these two command- 
ments hang all the law and the prophets." (xxii. 
37-40.) The meaning of which is, that the sum and 
substance of all that the law and the prophets teach, is 
comprehended in these two commandments. In other 
words, that these are the comprehensive principles or 
leading ideas which the Scripture everywhere inculcates. 
.And if these ought to be men's governing principles or 
ruling loves, then they must be the ruling loves of peo- 
ple in heaven. Again we read "God is love; and he 
that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him. 
. . . And this commandment have we from Him, That 
he who loveth God, love his brother also." (1 John iv. 
16, 21.) And again : "All things whatsoever ye would 
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ; for 
this is the law and the prophets:" Again teaching us 
th.it love is the vital and pervading principle of the 
whole of the inspired Word. And if such be the re- 
vealed law of life for men on earth, must it not also be 
the law of life for those in heaven? 

We thus see that the Bible affords abundant confir- 
mation of the truth of what Swedcnborg has told us in 

jard to the essential nature of heaven, or the kind of 
life that prevails there. And when love of the Lord 
and the neighbor is the ruling love in any mind, it is 
clear that all subordinate loves thence proceeding must 
needs be good. Those 111 whom this love bears rule, 



TESTIMi '/■' SCRIPTURa <,f 

can have no narrow 01 h aims. Then' supreme i 

sire and pur: 'ill be, by performin \ 

the highest use they arc made capable of perform ii 

They will not f "to do good and communicate," 

knowing that, "with such sacrifices God is well pleased." 
They will intend nothing and do nothing but what will 

contribute to the welfare and happiness of their neigh- 
bor. In short, they will study to know, and in all 
things seek to do, the will of their heavenly Father. 
.And this, according to Swedenborg, is precisely what 

the angels intend, seek, love and do. 

Thus far in our inquiry, we have found the truth of 
Swedenborg's disclosures to be amply sustained by rea- 
son and Scripture and the known laws of the human 
soul. We have seen that angels were not created such, 
but were all once inhabitants of the natural world; that 
they are all human — men advanced to a higher and 
more perfect state. This view presents the angelic host, 
not at an immeasurable distance from, but in a near and 
brotherly relation to, people here on earth ; while at the 
same time it reveals the -possibility, and can hardly fail 
(one would think) to kindle in the hearts of believers 
the desire of some clay becoming angels themselves. 

It has been further shown that every man takes his 
own life with him into the other world, and that his life 
is his ruling love. This is the soul's real life. And 
such as is the nature or quality of this love at the time 
of death, such it remains. And since heaven is essen- 
tially a state of life, therefore all who go to heaven 
must can*)' their heaven with them ; at least they must 



92 hi. \ i '/■ x RE i '/■:.-/ 1 ED. 

carry its germ, its essence, something of that unselfish 

love which, in its full and final expansion, makes heaven 
an 1 its delights. We can carry with us into the other 
world no other life, and can have no other there, than 
that which we have sought and in some degree formed 
for ourselves while in the flesh. Therefore none can 
enter heaven, save those who have learned to love and 
live the life of heaven — have learned to think and feel 
and will and act to some extent like the angels. 

Look, now, at this teaching in a practical point of 
view. What is its manifest and legitimate tendency? 
Can we conceive of anything calculated to exert a more 
benign influence on the hearts and lives of those who 
receive it? — anything better fitted to liftmen above a 
mean selfishness and sordid avarice, to enlarge their 
hearts, purify their motives and exalt their aims? — any 
instruction more healthy and stimulating, or better cal- 
culated to make the receiver honest and unselfish, kind 
and forgiving, just and generous, meek and pure and 
lowly in heart? — any that offers a stronger inducement 
to deny self, take up the cross, and follow the Lord in 
the regeneration ? 

In the light of this new doctrine it is clear that if we 
ever go to heaven we must begin on earth to form a 
heavenly character. We see the weight of an endless 
eternity pressing upon each day and hour of our exist- 
ence here below ; and seeing this, we shall see and feel 
the need of continual repentance, earnest prayer, daily 
watchfulness and ceaseless effort to subdue within us 
(with Divine assistance) whatever is contrary to the life 
of heaven; — the need of continual striving to think, 



tPTURl 93 

will and acf under the influence of tin- Lord's own love, 
and according to the revealed laws of angelic life. Is it 

►d and useful to mingle in the society, read the bi< 
raphies and contemplate the character of true and right- 
eous men? Does it quicken our aspirations, exalt our 
aims and incite us to higher and nobler endeavor? 
I low much more quickening and exalting in its ten- 
dency, then, must be that pure and lofty standard of 
humanity as revealed through Swedenborg in the char- 
acter ol the angels 1 Its tendency is to raise us to the 
stature of spiritual manhood; for it discloses the sub- 
lime capabilities of the human soul — reveals the true 
<4 measure of a man, that is, of the angel." (Rev. xxi. 

17.) 

Let the hearts and lives of all men be formed after 
this heavenly pattern, and what a different world would 
this of ours be ! Tne wilderness would indeed be 
changed to Eden, the desert to the garden of the Lord. 
People of different ranks and professions, of various 
climes and colors, would then form a shining band of 
brothers, bound each to each by the golden links of 
love. No hate, no scorn,' no pride, no avarice, no self- 
seeking, no injustice, no tyranny, no violation of any of 
the divine laws of brotherhood, but mutual love and 
mutual help, united with deep humility and confiding 
trust, would be here. The Father's will would be done 
on earth as it is done in heaven. Men would be, as the 
angels are, God's ministering servants, striving mutually 
to aid and bless each other. A great family of loving, 
joyous, happy, obedient children, all looking up with 
filial love and reverence to their heavenly Father, and 



94 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

suffering themselves evermore to be led by his unerring 
hand. 

Such would this world be if the life in heaven as dis- 
closed to us by Swedenborg, were brought down to 
earth. And the whole object of this New Revelation 
IS to prepare suitable recipient vessels, and thus aid in 
bringing it down. And what would this be, but a prac- 
tical exemplification of the true Christian Religion? — 
the grand predicted triumph of the gospel of peace and 
love ? — the promised second coming of the Lord, " with 
power and great glory"? — the blissful period of the 
church foreshadowed in the Revelation under the figure 
of "the Holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from 

d, having the glory of God: " when "the tabernacle 
of God shall be with men, and 1 Ie will dwell with them, 
and the\- shall be his people, and God Himself shall be 
with them, their God." (xxi. 3.) 

But the ruling loves of the angels are not the loves 
of any of us in our natural or unregenerate state. They 
are not such loves as we receive hereditarily, but loves 
that are born of God. Before we can become angels, 
therefore, a radical change must take place within us. 
What is the nature of this change, and how is it to be 
wrought? In other words, how is the heavenly state 
to be attained ? What is the sure pathway to the 
abodes of bliss? We will answer this question in the 
next chapter. 



THl WA Y TO HEAVE \". 95 

VIII. 
THE SURE 1 1 '.I)' TO HEAVEN. 

A SUBJECT of transcendent interest and import- 
ance, — «ancl this seems as suitable a place as any 

for its treatment. It is none other, indeed, than an in- 
quiry as to the sure way of attaining the end for which 

we were created — a state of internal and spiritual con- 
junction with the Lord; which is the highest and most 
perfect state that a human being is capable of attaining 

— a state of unutterable bliss. 

We have already shown — we trust with sufficient 
clearness — that heaven is not a place, but a state of life. 
And the nature of that state has also been made suf- 
ficiently plain. But we are none of us naturally or by 
inheritance in the state denoted by heaven, but in one 
quite the opposite ; for we are naturally dominated by 
a supreme love of self, which is the ruling love of those 
in hell. If we ever reach the kingdom of heaven, there- 
fore, our hereditary state must be wholly changed, and 
a new state be formed, by a process which the Bible calls 
regeneration, or a )iciv creation. Thus the old hereditary 
life of self-love and the love of the world must be cast 
aside or die, and a new and higher life be received from 
the Divine Humanity — the life of love to the Lord and 
the neighbor. 

It needs no argument to prove that the state of the 
natural man is the very opposite to that of heaven. This 
is well known to all. Look at the character and con- 
duct of men who follow their natural bent, who never 



cjG he. 1 1 y/.v RE 1 7 ■:.-/ /- /•:/>. 

think of practising self-denial, but always yield to the 
promptings of their hereditary inclinations. Do such 
men live and act like the angels ? Do they seek first 
— that is, as the thing of supreme moment — the king- 
dom of God and his righteousness? Do they regard 
their neighbor's good — the good of the community, the 
slate, the church, the Lord's kingdom — as paramount 
to their own, or as a matter of even equal concern ? Do 
they not, on the contrary, act with sole reference to their 
own private interests, regardless of the welfare or the 
rights of their neighbor? Do not the past history and 
present condition of mankind prove that an absorbing 
and predominant selfishness is the withering curse of 
our race? lias it not eaten like a canker into the souls 
of men, and left its sad and sickening blight on every 
feature of human society ? 

And if we look into our own hearts, do we not there 
learn the same melancholy fact? Do we not find that 
self-love is naturally our ruling love? Is it not a diffi- 
cult task — one that requires us to struggle against our 
natural inclination — to do always the thing which we 
know to be right in the sight of God ? — to obey the re- 
vealed laws of neighborly love? — to do to others as we 
would have them do to us ? — to return good for evil, 
blessing for cursing? — to love, bless, do good to and 
pray for our enemies? Everyone knows that, to do 
this, often requires much self-denial and self-compulsion, 
and sometimes a pretty severe internal struggle with 
"the old man." And this single fact, that the laws of 
our higher life cannot be obeyed by us without an effort 



7//: 97 

at self-denial sometimes severe and painful, proves that 
our hereditary life is the opposite of heavenly life. 

And the teaching of the Bible, too, s with our 

private experience and the experience and history of our 

rare. The Scripture throughout recognizes man's hered- 
itary state as a perverted, disorder!)', fallen state. It 
represents Him as alienated from God, opposed to his 
laws, averse to doing his commandments; as spiritually 
Corrupt, defiled, diseased throughout; as dead in tres- 
passes and sins, and utterly unfit for the kingdom of 
heaven. Therefore the natural love of self must he de- 
nied, resisted and overcome. This old hereditary life 
must be forsaken or lost for the Lord's sake, that is, for 
the sake of that new and higher life which is his own — 
his very Self. Agreeable to his own words : " He that 
loseth his life for my sake, shall find it." (Matt. x. 39.) 
The natural heart must be re-created in the Divine image 
and likeness, or rather a new heart (or will) must be 
formed within and above the old one, before we can 
reach the heavenly state, or enter into the kingdom of 
heaven. Therefore the Lord says : " Except a man be 
born again [literally, bom from abovc\ he cannot see the 
kingdom of God." To be born from above, is to be born 
of Him who is above all, even the Most High. It is to 
be spiritually created anew in the image of our Divine 
Lord and Master. It is to receive from Him those sweet 
affections, and holy desires, and humble feelings, and 
noble purposes which belong to all heavenly states of 
mind, and which come down to us from God out of 
heaven. All who are thus " born from above," are, as 
Paul says, " a new creation. Old things are passed away; 
9 O 



//. VEALED. 

behold all things arc become new." (2 Cor. v. 17.) And 
by this inward spiritual renewal they become the true 
children of God. They receive a continual influx of his 

divine spirit — the spirit of gentleness, meekness, patience, 
love, forbearance, forgiveness, and heroic self-sacrifice 
for others' good. In their thoughts, dispositions and 
pur] , they resemble their Father in the heavens. 

They have their Father's name written in their foreheads. 
Thus Paul writes to the church at Kphcsus : " That ye 
put niT . . . the old man which is corrupt according to 
the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your 
mind; and that ye put on the new man which after God 
i> created in righteousness and true holiness/ 1 (iv. 22- 
24.) 

In like manner Swcdcnborg, but more full and ex- 
plicit : 

"When man is regenerated, he becomes altogether 
another man, and is made new; therefore also when he 
is regenerated, In: is said to be born again, and created 
anew. In this case, although his face is like what it 
was b and also his speech, yet his mind is not like 

his former mind ; for his mind when lie is regenerated, 
i- ()])■> n Inwards heaven, and there dwells therein love 
to the Lord and charity towards his neighbor, together 
with faith. It is the mind which makes another and a 

W man. Change of state cannot be perceived in the 
body of man, but in his spirit, the body being only the 
covering of his spirit; and when it is put off, then his 
spirit appears, and this in altogether another form when 
he is regenerated ; for it has then the form of love and 
charity in beaut}- inexpressible, instead of its pristine 
form, which was that oi hatred and cruelty with a de- 
formity also inexpressible. Hence it may be seen what 



V TO HEAV1 

a regenerate person is, or one that is born again, or cre- 
ated anew, viz. t that he is altogether another and a new 

man." — A. I . 3212. 

And so, conformably to this doctrine concerning the 

corrupt and anti-heavenly state of the natural heart, the 

Bible throughout teaches that a great work is to be 

done before we can enter the kingdom of heaven. It 
teaches that we must believe in, look to, and follow after 
the Lord Jesus Christ; "for without me," He says, "ye 
can do nothing. 91 It teaches that we must learn and 
live according to the laws of the heavenly life which He 
has revealed ; — must " hear the Word of God and do it," 
else we cannot be fit for an abode among the blessed. 
It insists on the necessity of repentance, self-denial, 
watchfulness and prayer. Its language is : M Except ye 
repent, ye shall all likewise perish." " Whosoever will 
come after me, let him deny himself." " What I say 
unto you I say unto all, Watch." " Pray without ceas- 
ing." It represents the life of those journeying heaven- 
ward, as a struggle, a warfare, a ceaseless conflict with 
the inclinations of the natural man, " the foes of our 
own household." It says : " Strive [literally, agomze\ 
to enter in through the strait gate." " These [the mul- 
titude whom the seer of Patmos beheld 'arrayed in 
white robes '] are they who came out of great tribula- 
tion." And the Lord says : " If any man will come af- 
ter me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and 
follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose 
it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall 
find it." (Matt. xvi. 24, '5.) 

Yes : Following in the footsteps of our Divine Master 



IOO HEAVEN REVEALED. 

— resisting and overcoming, through his ever-present 

divine aid, the evil inclinations of our hereditary nature, 
as He resisted and overcame the evils in his assumed 
humanity — this is the sure and the only sure way to 
heaven. And this requires faith, courage, sacrifice, en- 
durance, spiritual conflict and a willingness to give up 
our own selfish life for the Lord's sake — for the sake, 
that is, of that higher, purer, diviner life which He is 
at all times ready and longing to give, and which is 
Himself A man's life is his love; and our lik is the 
life we receive by natural inheritance — the life of self- 
love and love of the world. But this is not our true life. 
It is not properly human life. True human or spiritual 
life is the Lord's own life in the soul of man. It is the 
life of genuine charity — the living and active operation 
of a love that is quite the opposite of the love of self. 
This latter love must be denied and overcome before we 
can receive such love as the angels feel, and which is 
the Lord's own. Thus we must lose our life for the 
Lord's sake, else we cannot find that which is our true 
and heavenly life. Therefore lie says that a man must 
liatc his own lift, else u he cannot be my disciple.'' 
1 1 ,uke xiv. 26.) 

The apostle Paul also says: "We must through much 
tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." And he 
exhorts us to " fight the ^ood fight of faith " — pointing, 
plainly, to that spiritual warfare to be carried on within 
our own breasts by means of the truths of faith from the 
Word— a warfare against our natural proprium, or the 
ruling loves of the natural man. .And these truths 
which are the weapons of our warfare — the weapons 



TIL HEAVi lOl 

wherewith we arc to combat our pride, conceit 
selfishness and all other hereditary evils — the same 
ap< calls the " armour of ( V id/ 1 and " the 

sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." (Eph. 

vi. 13, i;. 

The \j rd il ches that we are spiritually cl 

— are sanctified and saved, that is, brought out of a hell- 
ish and into a heavenly state, by means of the truth. 

" And for their sakes/' I te says, " I sanctity myself, that 
they also might be sanctified through the truth." 
11 Sanctify them through thy truth ; thy Word is truth." 

(John xvii. 17, 19.) It is the truth of God's Word 
which makes manifest our evils, and teaches us how to 
overcome them. It is the truth, therefore, by means of 
which we are spiritually washed and purified, and thus 
saved from sin and its consequences. 

But the Bible, we shall be told, teaches that it is the 
blood of Christ which cleanseth from all sin. And so, 
indeed, it is. But what spiritual thing docs the blood 
of Christ stand for or signify? It is the symbol of the 
precious and ever-living truth of the Word. This truth 
is the Lord's own life-blood which is forever being 
poured out for the purification and salvation of human 
souls. This, or the Lord operating through its instru- 
mentality, can cleanse from sin, and clothe our souls 
in robes of righteousness. Hence that angelic throng 
which the Revelator beheld arrayed in white, are said 
to " have washed their robes and made them white in 
the blood of the Lamb." 

But we are not spiritually cleansed, or brought into 
the heavenly state, by simply understanding and believing 



102 HEAVEN RE VEALED. 

the truth. Only by d it — shunning as sins against 

God the indulgence of those dispositions and feelings 

which the truth condemns, can the nature of our ruling 
love be changed. By first compelling ourselves to yield 
obedience to the requirements of truth, we arc brought 

at last into a state in which obedience is spontaneous 
and delightful. This is the heavenly state. And then 
our hearts are open to the influx of the Lord's love 
which is the life and soul of truth. We then eat his 
flesh and drink his blood, and He dwells in us and we 
in 1 1 i in. 

This, then, is the sure way to heaven ; for it is the 
way to pass out of that low, carnal, selfish state in which 
we all are by inheritance, into that high, spiritual, un- 
selfish state in which the angels are. Nor is any other 
way possible — any other than this: first learning and 
then religiously practicing the revealed laws of the heav- 
enly life. This is the teaching of Sacred Scripture as 
well as of enlightened reason and human experience. 
Accordingly we read : 

" Xot every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he thatdoetA the 
will of my Father which is in heaven." (Watt. vii. 21.) 

" Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine 
and doctli them, I will liken him unto a wise man who 
built his house upon a rock. . . . And every one that 
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who 

built his house upon the sand." (v. 24.) 

Jesus saith : " And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and 
dt> not the things which I say ?" (Luke vi. 46.) 

"And lie answered and said unto them, My mother 



HE A VI i ) 

and my brethren are these which hear the Word of I rod 
and do it." | Luke viii. 21.) 

" He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, 
he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be 
loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will mani- 

[f to hi:n." (John xiv. 21.) 

" And the dead were judged out of those things 
which were written in the \ y according to their 

r&s" I Rev. xx. 12.) 

And so throughout the inspired Volume. Again and 

in are we told that it is only by obeying the voice 
of the Lord, following after Him, keeping his com- 
mandments, learning; and doing' the truth, that we can 
arrive at the heavenly state ; and that, in the great 
Hereafter, every one will be judged according to his 
works, 

11 That a man is saved," says Swedenborg, " accord- 
ing to his works, the Lord also teaches in his parables, 
eral of which imply that they who do good are ac- 
cepted, and that they who do evil are rejected. (See 
Matt. xxi. 33-44; xxv. I — 1 2, 14-34. Luke xiii. 6; xix. 
13-25; x. 30-37; xvi. 19-31.) . . . Nevertheless, there 
are many in Christian churches, who teach that faith 
alone is saving, and not any good of life or good works. 
They add, also, that evil of life or evil works do not 
condemn those who are justified by faith alone, because 
they are in God and in grace. " — Doc. of Life, n. 2, 4. 

But it is important to remember that the nature or 
quality of the works by which we are to be judged, de- 
pends on the kind of motive which entered into them as 
their prompting cause, or which moved us to do them. 
If the motive was evil or purely selfish, the works them- 



104 HEAVEN REVEALl 

selves were of the same nature, however I they may 

have been in their outward form. Accordingly Swe- 
denboi 

" But by the deeds and works according to which 

man is judged, are not meant such deeds and works as 
are m xhibited in the external form, but such also 

ire internally ; for every one knows that every 
dcL-d and work proceeds from man's will and thought ; 
for if it were otherwise, Ids deed would be mere motion, 
like that of an automaton or image. Wherefore a deed 
or work in itself considered, is nothing but an effect 
which derives its soul and life from the will and thought, 

that it is will and thought in effect, therefore will and 
thought in an external form. Hence it follows that such 

are the will and thought which produce a deed or 
work, such also is the deed or work. If the thought 
and will be good, the deeds and works are good ; but if 
the thought and will be evil, the deeds and works are 
evil, although outwardly they may appear alike." — II. 
II. n. 472. 

But our life's love cannot be speedily changed. We 
cannot quickly pass from hell to heaven, or from a su- 
premely selfish which is an infernal state, to the oppo- 
site or unselfish state which is heavenly. This great 
change, like all orderly divine processes, is slow and 

Ldual. According!}' Swcdenborg says : 

" Man, when he is born, as to hereditary evils 1 
hell in the least form ; and also becomes a hell, so far 
as he takes from hereditary evils and superadds to them 
his own. Hence it is that the order of his life from na- 
tivity and from actual life, is opposite to the order of 
heaven; for from the proprium lie loves himself more 
than the Lord, and the world more than heaven ; when 
yet the life of heaven consists in loving the Lord above 



Til. 

all thii md the neighbor as himself Hence 
evident that the former life which is of hell, must be al- 

I; that is, evils and falsities must be 
loved, to the intent that new life, which is the life of 
heaven, maybe implanted. This , A in anywise be 
done h ; for every evil being inrooted with its fal- 

sities, has connection with all evils and their falsiti 
and such evils and falsities arc innumerable, and their 
connection is so manifold that it cannot be compi 
hended even by the angels, but only by the Lord. 
Hence it is evident, that the life of hell with man cannot 
ved suddenly, for if suddenly he would alto- 
ther expire; and neither can the life of heaven be im- 
planted suddenly, for if suddenly, he would also expire. 
There are thousands and thousands of arcana, of which 
scarcel\' one is known to man, whereby he is led of the 
Lord, when from the life of hell into the life of heaven. 
That this is so, has been given me to know from heaven ; 
and it has been likewise confirmed by several things 
which came to the apperception. Inasmuch as man 
knows scarcely anything concerning these arcana, there- 
fore many have fallen into errors concerning man's lib- 
eration from evils and falsities, or concerning the remis- 
sion of sins, by believing that the life of hell with man 
can in a moment be transcribed into the life of heaven 
with him through mercy ; when yet the whole act of 
regeneration is mercy, and no others are regenerated, 
but those who receive the mercy of the Lord by faith 
and life during their abode in the world." — A. C. n. 9336 ; 
see also n. 9334, 5398. 

Now is not this teaching amply sustained by the tes- 
timony of reason, experience and the Volume of revela- 
tion ? The upbuilding of the kingdom of heaven in the 
soul, is a truly divine work, yet one which cannot be 
performed without our voluntary cooperation. It should, 



IC6 Hi V REVEALED. 

therefore, bear some resemblance to the rest of the Cre- 
ator's works. 

And how does the Divine creative energy display it- 
self throughout the material universe? Why, in every 
formative process it proceeds gradually. Nothing comes 
forth full-formed and complete all at once — no, nor very 
suddenly. All things endowed with life — trees, plants, 
animals, men — commence from something minute, and 
advance by slow degrees to their mature state. And 
trees and animals that are destined to live longest, are 
always slowest of growth and latest in arriving at ma- 
turity. All orderly divine processes are gradual. Our 
globe itself — so science teaches — was many ages in be- 
coming fitted for the abode of man. The face of nature 
shorn of its verdure by November's frosts, is gradually 
renewed by Spring's warm sunshine. The tiny germ 
within the acorn is gradually developed into the sturdy 
oak. The infant advances by slow degrees to the full 
stature of manhood. Must not the new spiritual man, 
then, advance by a corresponding process to the full 
stature of angelhood? All analogy proves that a man's 
ruling love is never suddenly changed. 

And the same doctrine agrees with and is confirmed 
by universal experience. For who does not know from 
experience that the uprooting of avarice and selfishm 
from the natural heart, and implanting therein the loves 
of heaven, is no sudden work? Conviction of sin and 
conversion (which is simply turning about and facing in 
the opposite direction) may be sudden. Hut who ever 
heard of a man's ruling love (which means his entire 
character) being suddenly changed from evil to good? 



THE SURi 107 

— or, of .1 person pa uickly from an infernal to 1 

heavenly state, and remaining permanently in it ? Paul's 

11 while on his way to Damascus, was sudden. 
Hut were all his evil le j suddenly subdued, and 

"the old man" or the natural proprium brought un 
comp' n to the Divine? So far from it, we 

funl him many years after his conversion, making this 
1 but frank e >n : " I am carnal, sold under sin. 

. . . To will is present with me; but how to perform 
that which is good, I find not. For the good that I 
aid, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I 
do. ... I find then a law, that, when 1 would l\o good, 
evil is present with me;" and he concludes with the 
exclamation " O wretched man that I am ! Who shall 
deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. vii. 
14-21.) Which shows that the apostle's state was yet 
many removes from that of heaven. 

id the Scripture confirms the teachings of analogy 
and experience. Our Saviour as to his humanity, is our 
ttern. And we read that "Me grew, and waxed 
ong in spirit;" that He u increased in wisdom and 
stature, and in favor with' God and man " (Luke i. 80; 
ii. 52) — language which shows that the process of glori- 
fication, or the descent of the Divine Life into, and its 
union with, the human, was gradual. We are told also 
that 4 * the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard- 
seed . . . which indeed is the least of all seeds; but 
when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs, and 
becometh a tree so that the birds of the air come and 
lodge in the branches thereof." (Matt. xiii. 32.) Again 
it is compared to seed which, when sown, springs up 



I OS HEA J EN RE VEALED. 

and unfolds gradually, " first the blade, then the ear, 
after that the full corn in the ear." (Mark iv. 28.) Such 
passages plainly teach that the heavenly life is acquired 

not suddenly, but by slow degrees, just as a plant or tree 
unfolds and matures; and that one proceeds according 
to the laws of divine order as surely as the other. And 
the Lord takes care that the seed-germs of the heavenly 
kingdom shall be early and securely stored up in the in- 
teriors of every little child.* 

Only those, then, can go to heaven, who begin on 
earth (when of mature years) to develop and strengthen 
within themselves the life of heaven: Which is done 
through religious obedience to the laws of that life — by 
shunning all known evils as sins against God. No 
others, after they shall have left the material body, will 
have any desire to go there ; nor could they breathe its 
pure atmosphere, nor endure its light and warmth. 
They would be as much out of their element in heaven, 
as a fish is out of his when taken from the water. They 
would find the sphere of heaven so suffocating as to 
cause them unutterable anguish. Accordingly Sweden- 
borg says : 

"Unless heaven be within a person, nothing of the 
heaven without him flows-in and is received. Many 
spirits entertain the opinion that heaven may be given 
to every one from immediate mercy;- and because of 

* " It would be impossible for any one to live as a man without a germ 

of innocence, charity and mercy, or something of a similar nature thence 
derived. . . . This germ man receives from the Lord during infancy and 
childhood, as may be seen from the states of infants and children. What 
lie then receives is treasured within him, and is called in the \\'<>rd ■ 
tnnit or Remains % which are of the Lord alone with man, and furnish 
him with the capacity of becoming truly man on hi-> arrival at adult a| 
— A. ( '. n. 1050. 



Til. WAY TO HEA\ I V. 

their belief, they have been taken up into heaven. But 
when they came there, because their interior life was 
opposite to that of tin* angels, they grew blind as to 

their intellectual faculties till they became like idi< 
and were tortured as to their will faculties so that they 
behaved like madmen. In a word, they who go to heaven 

after living wicked lives, gasp there for breath, and writhe 
>Ut like fishes taken from the water into the air, and 

like animals in the ether of an air-pump after the air lias 
n exhausted. Hence it is evident that heaven is not 

without one, but within him." — II. II. n. 54. See also 
n. 400, ;iS, 525. 

L ok, now, at the practical tendency of this new doc- 
trine. Accept it as true, then farewell to all reliance on 
the efficacy of a death-bed repentance. Farewell to the 
delusive hope of ever reaching heaven through mere 
belief, or faith alone. The doctrine shows us that no 
amount of prayers, or tears, or penitent confessions, or 
pious words uttered on the bed of death or in the felon's 
cell, can avail to change the ruling love. It reveals the 
necessity, first, of feeling and acknowledging our utter 
jndence on the Lord; and second, of yielding a 
voluntary and implicit obedience to the laws of his king- 
dom. Thus its tendency is to make people more eager 
to learn and more careful to obey the revealed laws of 
the angelic life. Every noble and righteous purpose 
cherished, every unselfish and brotherly act performed, 
every self-denying effort put forth in the name of the 
Lord and in acknowledged dependence on Him for the 
needed wisdom and strength, is a step on the way to 
heaven ; — something done towards recreating the soul 
in the Divine likeness, or building it up to "the measure 
of a man, that is, of the angel. " 
10 



IIO HEAVEN / 

IX. 
LIGHT AND HEAT IN HEAVEN 

AM( >NG the first questions which people arc natu- 
rally inclined to ask about the heaven of angels, arc 
such as the following : Have they light and heat there, 
as we have here ? If so, what is their nature: and origin ? 
I )o they come from a sun, like the light and heat of this 
world ? If the answer be, Yes, then what is the nature 
of that sun, and how does it differ from our own ? Swe- 
denborg ought to be able to answer these questions, if 
his claim to have enjoyed long and open intercourse 
with the angels be well-founded. And he has answered 
them with all the fullness that we might expect. Let us 
see what his answers are, and then subject them to a 
careful examination, lie says: 

"The sun of this world does not appear in heaven, 
nor anythingwhich exists from this sun, because all that 
is natural. For nature commences from this sun, and 
whatsoever is produced by it is called natural. But the 
spiritual in which heaven is, is above nature, and entirely 
distinct from the natural; nor do they communicate with 
each other except by correspondences. 

" Hut although the sun of the world does not appear 
in heaven, nor anythingwhich exists from this sun, still 
there is a sun there ; and light and heat and all things 
which are in the world and a great many more, but not 
from a similar origin ; for the things which exist in heaven 
are spiritual, and those which exist in the world are 
natural. The sun of heaven is the Lord ; the light there 
is divine truth, and the heat is divine good, both of which 
proceed from the Lord as a sun. From that origin are 
all things which exist and appear in heaven." 



LI( ill 

■ The Lord appears in heaven as a sun, because II 
the divine love from which all spiritual thin ist, as 

all natural things exist by means of the sun of this world. 
It is that love which shines as a sun. ... He appears 
differently according to each individual's reception of 
Him; in one way, the , to those who receive Him 

in the good ^\ love, and in another to those who receive 
Him in th 1 of faith. To those who receive Him 

in the good of love, 1 le app< s a sun, fiery and flam- 

ing according to reception. These are in his celestial 
kingdom. But to those who receive Him in the good 

faith, He appears as a moon, white and shining ac- 
cording to reception. These are in his spiritual king- 
dom."— H. II. n. 116-118. 

11 The light in heaven is so great as to exceed by many 
degrees the mid-day light of the world. I have often seen 

it, even in the evening and night. At first I wondered 
when I heard the angels say that the light of the world 
is little more than shade in comparison with the light of 
heaven. But since I have seen it, I can testify that it is 
so. Its whiteness and brilliancy surpass all description. 
The things seen by me in heaven, were seen in that 
light ; thus more clearly and distinctly than things in 
the world. 

"The light of heaven is not natural like that of the 
world, but spiritual ; for it proceeds from the Lord as a 
sun, and that sun is divine love. That which proceeds 
from the Lord as a sun, is called in the heavens divine 
truth, although in its essence it is divine good united to 
divine truth. Hence the angels have light and heat; 
light from the divine truth, and heat from the divine 
good. From this consideration it is evident that the 
light and heat of heaven are not natural but spiritual 
from their origin." — Ibid. 126, '7. 

"The degrees of spiritual heat may be understood 



112 //. V REVEALED. 

from those of light, for heat and light exist in equal de- 

Aa to the spiritual light in which the angels 

dwell, I have been permitted to see it with my own 

and among the angels of the higher heavens it is 

bright and yet so glowing as to surpass description 

. . . rwn by the radiance of the natural sun. In a word, 

it exceeds a thousand-fold the noonday light of the 

world."— D. L. W. n. 182. 

11 The heat of heaven in its essence is love. It pro- 
ceeds from the Lord as a sun, and is the divine love in 
Him and from Him. Hence it is evident that the heat 
of heaven is spiritual as well as its light; for it is from 
the same origin. The heat of heaven, like its light, is 
everywhere various. That in the celestial kingdom dif- 
fers from that in the spiritual ; and it differs also in every 
iety. And not only does it differ in degree, but even 
in kind. It is more intense and pure in the Lord's 
ial kingdom, because the angels there are more re- 
ceptive of the divine good. It is less intense and pure 
in the Lord's spiritual kingdom, because the angels there 
are more receptive of divine truth. And it differs also 
in every society according to reception. 

"There is heat also in the hells, but it is unclean. 
The heat in heaven is what is meant by sacred and 
celestial fire, and the heat of hell is what is meant by 
profane and infernal fire; and by both is meant love. 
( lestial fire means love to the Lord and love toward 
the neighbor, and every affection derived from these 
loves; and infernal fire means the love of self and the 
world, and every lust derived from these loves " — II. II. 
n. 133. 4. See alsoA.Cn. 1053,2196,2776,3636,4415. 

Scores of passages similar to the foregoing, might be 
quoted from Swedcnborg's writings. And he nowhere 
teaches anything at variance with this, though enjoying 
open intercourse with the angels, and daily writing of 



;/ /■ v. i [3 

what he heard and saw in heaven, for a period of nearly 
thii ars. What evidence can be adduced in con- 

nation of these statements ? is the next question; — 
for we should not accept the mere ipse dixit of any man 
on a subject of this nature, 

First, it cannot be denied that there is an air of reason- 
abl and probability about the statements, winch is 

utterly repugnant to the idea of delusion on the part of 

the author. There is also a directness and simplicity in 
the manner of the statements, which we all recognize as 
among the characteristics of a truthful revelation. And 
their reasonableness becomes more and more manifest, 
the closer they are examined, — another strong indica- 
tion of their truth. For consider: — 

Angels are human beings removed from the lower or 
primitive stage of existence, and advanced to a higher 
and more mature state. They are all in the human form. 
They possess the human faculties, but in a more perfected 
state than those of people on earth. They also have 
the human organs — eyes, ears, hands, feet, etc., — the 
same as men. And wherever they are mentioned or 
referred to in the Bible, they are spoken of as in the 
human form ; and in some places their faces, mouths, 
eyes, ears, and hands are particularly mentioned. 

Now eyes imply the existence of some sort of light as 

the medium of their exercise or use, just as ears imply 

the existence of some sort of an atmosphere. If there 

were no such thing as light, eyes would be useless and 

we should not have them ; for the Creator makes nothing 

without use as an end. He adds no useless appendage 

to any creature. And having eyes we could not see 
10* II 



114 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

without some suitable medium — some kind of light 
But our organs of sense arc material, and therefore 

adapted to this material world. With our bodily ej 
We see, and with our fleshly hands we handle, material 
things —and these alone. And the light and heat of this 
world, and the sun from which they emanate, being them- 
selves natural, are adapted to our natural or fleshly 
organs. 

But everything in the spiritual world is spiritual. The 
bodies of the angels are spiritual bodies; and we have 
P mi's testimony that " there is a natural body, and there 
is a spiritual body." (i Cor. xv. 4.) And the organs of 
sense which the angels possess, must be suited to the 
spiritual things of their world, as our bodily organs are 
adapted to the material things of this world. The light 
and heat of heaven must therefore be spiritual, else they 
would not be suited to the nature of the angels, nor be 
in harmony or homogeneous with the things of their 
world. 

And we know what spiritual light is. It is that which 
illumines the understanding — the light of divine or spirit- 
ual truth. When this light dawns upon us, it brings day 
to our mental world. The light of divine truth shows 
US the path in which we ought to walk — the path that 
leads to heaven. And we know, too, what spiritual heat 
is. It is that which warms us internally and spiritually; 
that which sets the soul aglow ; that which we feel when 
the heart throbs with emotions of gratitude and love. 
Love is spiritual heat; and its effects in the moral or 
spiritual re. dm are such as correspond to the effects of 
the Min', heat in the material realm. It warms and 



1 : •// A \ D Hi I ." IN HI \V1 115 

quickens and vivifies. Hence it is common to hear p 
pie who abound in love towards others, called warm- 
hearted* 

And from what other source can spiritual lighl and 
heat proceed, than a spiritual sun? *\ni\ a spiritual sun 
must be a living sun. And what can a living sun he, 
hut the Lord Jehovah Himself? What but the very sun 
in whose bright beams of truth and love the angels con- 
tinually n -the sun of the spiritual world ? And 
can there be any reasonable doubt that this sun is the 
incarnate Word — the Divine Man who, when on earth, 
declared: 4k I am the light of the world ; " who is the 
Enlightener of all minds and the Quickener of all hearts; 
" in whom is life," and whose life "is the light of men " ? 
(John i. 4, 9.) The spiritual sun must be to the uni- 
verse of souls, what the natural sun is to the realm of 
matter. 

Consider again, that angels are human beings in an 
advanced stage ; — men and women raised from this 
primary and rudimental to a higher or more interior 
state of existence. And if advanced to a higher state, 
they should possess a keener insight and enjoy a wider 
rani^e of vision than we do. Thev ou^ht therefore to 

^> 'SO 

dwell in light of superior brilliancy. And so we might 
reasonably expect that the sun of heaven would be im- 
mensely brighter than the sun of this world. We 
should expect it to surpass our sun in splendor by as 
many degrees as heaven is higher than earth, or as an- 
gels are superior to men. Accordingly Swedenborg 
says : 

"The light of heaven in which the angels dwell is, in 



Il6 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

respect to the light of this world, as the light of the sun 

at noonday to that of a candle, which becomes invisible 
and as nothing when the sun rises." — A. C. 1053. 

It cannot be denied, then, that the seer's disclosure 
on this subject, is altogether reasonable. Indeed we 
cannot conceive of an answer essentially different, that 
would at all satisfy the demands of reason. 

Then there have been in different ages and countries 
many pious and trustworthy persons, whose spiritual 
eyes have been occasionally opened, and whose re- 
corded experiences on such occasions agree entirely 
with Swedenborg's statements, and may be said therefore 
to furnish corroborative evidence of their truth. Cases 
like that, for example, recorded of the grandfather of 
Heinrich Jung Stilling in the hitter's Autobiography 
(p. 22, Harper's edition); and that of Rev. Win. Tenant 
of Freehold, New Jersey, who was apparently dead for 
several days, and after his resuscitation described what 
he saw while in that state; among other things 4< an in- 
effable glory" — a ''glory all unutterable!' (See Memoir 
of Rev. Wm. Tenant.) Dr. Passavent says : " Persons 
recovering from deep swoons and trances, frequently 
describe themselves as having been in this region of 
light — this light of the spirit, if I may so call it — this 
palace of light in which it dwells, which will hereafter 
be its proper light; for the physical or solar light which 
serves us while in the flesh, will be no longer needed." 
(Quoted in Mrs. Crowe's Night Side of Nature \ vol. ii., 
p. 163.) And Dr. II. Werner (Doctor of Philosophy, 
Stuttgard and Tubingen), in his Guardian Spirits, tells of 
a seeress with whom he was intimate, and who, in her 



LIGHT AND HEAT IN HEAVEN. 117 

state o{ trance, often spoke of a bright Sun and 

of being in its light On one occasion she says: " I see 

the Sun, and these beings quite different from men — 
much more pure and noble — are not in the Sun, . . . 
but I see them in the neighborhood of the Sun. O, if it 

were so fair, so glorious on the earth below, as here 
where there are no human passions, it were then good 
to live there. This whole life above consists of love. 
Everything that is and is done here, proceeds from 
love. This principle makes all the happiness that reigns 
here above." (p. 30, '1, New York edition, 1S47.) 

Numerous facts like these are accessible, and from 
sources perfectly authentic. And while they harmonize 
with, and go to confirm the truth of, Swedcnborg's 
statements, they at the same time find in his revealings 
their only rational and philosophical explanation. 

And turning to the Bible we find still further confir- 
mation of the truth of his statements. We find there a 
record of facts which it is impossible rationally to ex- 
plain upon any other theory than that furnished by his 
pneumatology. Take, for example, the phenomenon 
recorded in Exodus (24th chapter), when Moses, Aaron, 
Nadab and Abihu were called to " come up unto the 
Lord." It is there said that " the glory of the Lord 
abode upon mount Sinai ; . . . and the sight of the 
glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of 
the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel." And 
this, too, although the Lord's glory was veiled by a 
cloud to the multitude who stood gazing at the foot of 
the mount. What must have been the appearance of 
that glory to Moses who went up into the mount and 



1 1 8 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

the cloud ! No wonder that when he came down, "the 

skin of his face shone" as the record sa\ 

Then we read in the gospel by Matthew (17th chap- 
ter): "And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, 
James and John his brother, and bringeth them up into 
a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before 
them ; and his face did shine as the sun, and his rai- 
ment was white as the light. And behold there ap- 
peared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him. 
. . . And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus 
charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man until 
the Son of Man be risen again from the dead." This is 
the way Jesus appeared to the disciples when their spir- 
itual eyes were opened: "his face did shine as the 
sun." That it was with their spiritual and not with 
their natural eyes that the disciples saw Jesus on that 
occasion, is evident; 1st, from the fact that they saw 
Moses and Elias at the same time; and these persons, 
being spirits and long time dwellers in the spiritual 
world, could not be seen by any eyes but those of the 
spirit; and 2d, from the Lord's own words, " Tell the 
vision to no man," etc. A vision is a supernatural ap- 
pearance — something seen with the spiritual and not 
with the natural eyes. 

Again, the seer of Patmos tells us that, "being in the 
spirit on the Lord's day," he heard behind him a great 
voice, " saying : I am Alpha and Omega, the First and 
the Last." And turning to see whence the voice came, 
he says : " I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and in the 
midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son 
of Man . . . and his countenance was as tlic sun shineth 



T AND III- A l IX HEAVl lig 

in his strength." (Rev, i. 10, 1-3, [6 To be "in the 

spirit," is to be in an exalted spiritual state- in a si 
to sec as those do who arc in the spiritual world, or 
who have their spiritual eyes opened. 

Then there is the testimony of Paul in his memorable 

speech before king Agrippa (and repeated elsewhere), 

which perfectly agrees with, and finds a rational explan- 
ation in, Swedenborg's disclosures. " Whereupon," says 
the apostle, " as 1 was going to Damascus, with author- 
ity and commission from the chief priests, at mid-day, O 
king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the 
brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them 
that journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen 
to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and say- 
ing in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest 
thou me? . . . And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And 
] le said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." (Acts xxvi. 
12, 13.) Observe that the apostle beheld this dazzling 
brightness at mid-day, and says that it exceeded the 
brightness of the sun. The light was overpowering in 
its splendor It was more than he and his fellow trav- 
ellers could endure ; and they fell prostrate on the 
earth. 

Now what was the nature of that light? and to what 
realm did it belong, the natural or the spiritual ? Cer- 
tainly not to the natural ; for what light in the realm of 
nature is so overpowering as that was ? What natural 
light is above that of the sun at noonday? And why 
not seen by all the people in that region round about, if 
it were merely natural light ? No : The light which 
Paul and his companions beheld on that occasion, was 



1 20 in-, a i EN re J '/■:. 1 1. ED. 

from the Sun of the spiritual world — their spiritual sight 
rig suddenly and providentially opened to enable 
them to see it. And if the light of that Sun is, as Swe- 
denborg says, u a thousand times greater than that of 
the sun of this world," no wonder that they all fell to 
the earth, and that Paul himself " could not see for 
the glory of that light' 1 (Acts xxii. 11 >, and remained 
"three days without sight." (ix. 9.) Who could stand 
before such dazzling brightness, if it burst suddenly upon 
him? Observe further, that, within that overwhelming 
blaze was a person — the Lord Jesus Christ himself — from 
whom came the words in Hebrew, "Saul, Saul, why 
persecutest thou me? " Observe, also, that this great 
light burst upon them suddenly y and as suddenly van- 
ished ; and the apostle himself called it "a light from 
heaven." 

And thus we find that remarkable experience of Paul, 
producing what is commonly called his miraculous con- 
version, to be in perfect agreement with Swedenborg's 
disclosures ; and while furnishing additional confirmation 
of their truth, receiving from them at the same time an 
easy and philosophical explanation. And can you find 
in any of the old theologies — can you find anywhere else 
but in Swedenborg's pneumatology, a rationed explana- 
tion of that memorable occurrence? 

And that it is the Lord Jesus Christ or Jehovah God, 
who is the Sun of the spiritual world, is plain from many 
passages of Scripture. Thus the inspired Psalmist says: 
"Jehovah God is a sun and shield." "Jehovah cover- 
eth Himself with light as with a garment." And Isaiah 
says: "Jehovah shall be unto thee an everlasting light.'* 



LIGHT AND HEAT FN HEAV1 I 21 

And the apostle John: "God is light/ 1 and "God 
love" — for love is spiritual heat whence comes spiritual 
light. And of that city which the seer of Patmos be- 
held in vision "coming down from God out of heaven," 
it is said "the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb 
is the light thereof." And "there shall be no night 

there; . . . for the Lord God giveth them fight." And 
the Lord when on earth proclaimed Himself "the light 

of the world." And John calls Him "the Word" 
which was "in the beginning with God, and is God" — > 
44 the true light which lighteth every man." lie is the 
enlightener of all souls, the Sun of the moral universe. 

Thus do reason, Scripture, the recorded experiences 
of gifted seers and of devout men in all ages, unite in 
attestation of the truth of Swedenborg's revelation con- 
cerning the Sun of the spiritual world, and the nature 
of the light and heat thence proceeding. And there is 
no conflict in the testimony rendered, but perfect agree- 
ment among all these witnesses. And the witnesses, 
we observe, are quite independent of each other. The 
conclusion is, therefore, inevitable. For what the Bible 
declares, and reason approves, and the experience of 
prophets and seers in -all ages confirms, must be true 
beyond question. 

Nor is the evidence exhausted yet. As we prosecute 
our inquiry into the laws and phenomena of the spiritual 
world, we shall find additional proof accumulating at 
every step. We shall find this central fact of the exist- 
ence of a spiritual Sun, connecting itself as intimately 
with the other facts and phenomena of the spiritual 

world, as the fact of the natural sun's existence connects 
1 1 



122 HEAVEN .!/./■/>. 

itself with the other farts and phenomena of our ter- 

trial world, with the motion of the planets, the 
existence and color of the clouds, the verdure of the 
fields, the aspects of the landscape, the countless tints 
of the violet and the rose. These all presuppose and 
depend wholly upon the sun, and could not exist with- 
out it. 



X. 
PRACTICAL TENDENCY OF THIS DISCLOSURE. 

C A RANT that what Swedenborg tells us about the 
X Sun in the angelic heavens be true, what then? 
Is the disclosure one of any practical value? Is it cal- 
culated to improve the character of those who accept it, 
or to quicken their endeavors after righteousness? For 
if it can be shown that the legitimate tendency of any 
revealed fact or law is good and wholesome, that it 
furnishes food or stimulus to the better part of our nature, 
and tends to exalt and ennoble the character of the be- 
liever, that is the strongest possible evidence of its truth. 
But if, on the other hand, its obvious tendency is per- 
nicious — if it is calculated to exert a debasing influence 
on the character, you can have no stronger evidence that 
the alleged revelation is false. " For even' tree is known 
by his own fruit; for of thorns men do not gather figs, 
nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes." (Luke vi. 
44.1 No more can the fruits of righteousness be the 
itimate product of false teaching or a spurious revo 



Tl OF THIS DISCI OSUR* I \ J 

lation. By its obvious practical tendency, you may know 
whether the alleged revelation be true or false. Let us 
apply this test to Swedenborg's disclosures concern 

the spiritual Sun. 

It was said in the last chapter, and shown by extracts 
from the seer's writings, that the spiritual Sun does not 

appear the same to all the angels. Its appearance is al- 
ways in correspondence with the state of the beholder. 
To those o{ the highest heaven, who receive the light 
of divine wisdom and the warmth of divine love in larg- 
measure, the Lord appears most glorious even to their 
external vision, lie appears as a sun warm and bright 
according to their internal reception of his light and life. 
To those of a lower heaven who receive his love and 
wisdom in an inferior degree, He appears less glorious 
— comparatively as a moon. While to those not in 
heaven, whose lives are not in harmony with its laws, 
and in whose hearts is none of God's unselfish love, but 
the supreme love of self instead, the sun of heaven does 
not appear at all. Their state is, therefore, one of com- 
parative cold, darkness and night. Hence the meaning 
of that " outer darkness " into which the wicked are said 
to be cast; for they have shut the door of their souls 
against the Sun of righteousness, and therefore the my- 
riads of interesting and beautiful things which that Sun 
reveals to the angels, are invisible to them. 

Now the different angelic heavens are. neither more 
nor less than different states of human life — all good, 
but some superior to others. And so, too, the different 
kinds and degrees of evil in the wicked, are what neces- 
sitate the different hells. The higher states of angelic 



124 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

life, arc such as arc in accord with the higher laws of 

the soul, or with the truths of the spiritual and celestial 
3 of the Word 

And every man, when he passes into the spiritual 
world, takes his own character with him. lie goes 
there precisely the same individual that he was inter- 
nally while living in the flesh. His inner and spiritual 
life as to all its predominant characteristics, remains. 
And the process of forming this inner life, is a process 
of clarifying or obscuring the spiritual vision — of im- 
proving or impairing the soul's eyesight. It is a proc- 
ess by which we become qualified to enjoy the blessed 
light and warmth of the Sun of heaven, or incapacitated 
for beholding his face and rejoicing in his kindling 
beams. 

Note what this process is, or the manner of its pro- 
cedure. As to our spirits we are always in the spiritual 
world, though at present unconscious of the fact. And 
every law of the spirit's life — every ray of spiritual truth 
that we receive — is a beam from the spiritual Sun. And 
as we obey the truth we have learned, we come to ex- 
perience a positive delight in it. The vital element in 
truth is the Lord's love; and it is this which causes the 
delight. By religious obedience to the truth, our hearts 
become warmed and expanded and more and more re- 
ceptive of this vital element; the range of our spiritual 
vision is extended, and we become receptive of more 
and still higher truth. With every act of self-denial 
prompted by religious principle, there comes as a rich 
reward an increased desire for more and higher truth, 
and an increased capacity for receiving it. And so by 



TENDENCY OF THIS DISCLOSURE. 125 

religiously living the truth, we come more and more into 
the light and love and joy of it. As saith the Lord: 
u He that doeth truth cometh to the light." 

In this and in no other way can our souls be prepared 
for the light by which the angels sec. If we seek and 

love and reverently follow the light of heavenly truth 

while here on earth, we shall be prepared to rejoice in 
the glad beams of heaven's Sun when we enter the 

other world. But if, on the contrary, we care nothing 
about it, take no delight in it, turn our thoughts away 
from it, and walk not according to it, we shall gradually 
incapacitate ourselves for receiving it. Every infringe- 
ment of known spiritual laws, is an injury to the soul's 
eyesight. And if disobedience or neglect be persisted 
in, we shall be unable to bear the light of the spiritual 
Sun in the great Hereafter. We shall hate and flee from 
it, and choose instead the " outer darkness/' as owls and 
bats shun the light of day, and prefer instead the shades 
of night. Agreeable to the Lord's own words: "He 
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the 
light, lest his deeds should be reproved." And what 
darkness is so dreadful as that which results from the 
loss of the moral or spiritual eyesight ! — the loss of all 
desire for the true light, and even of the capacity to re- 
ceive or apprehend it! "If, therefore, the light that is 
in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness ! " saith 
the Lord. 

Thus the practical tendency of this disclosure is seen 
to be good and wholesome. For it teaches that our 
spiritual vision while we are yet in the flesh, is becom- 
ing dimmed or clarified according to our degree of af- 



I 26 Hi:. 1 1 r EN RE ! '/:,! L ED. 

fection for the truth and our fidelity in obeying its be- 
hests. And it warns us not to forget or transgress the 
Divine commands, under penalty of dimming or de- 
stroying our spirit's eyesight, and thus preparing our- 
selves for the u outer darkness." Its tendency therefore 
is, to make us watchful against the indulgence of any 
known evil, and to stimulate our desire to learn and 
practice the laws of the heavenly life; for it is in this 
way only that we can become qualified to behold and 
rejoice in the beams of heaven's bright Sun. 

Then see how this disclosure concerning the nature 
of heavenly light and heat, helps us in the interpretation 
of the Bible ; for there is, as we should expect, an inti- 
mate connection between the spiritual sense of the Word 
as revealed through Swedenborg,and his disclosures con- 
cerning the spiritual world. 

In its natural or literal sense the Bible appears to 
treat much of natural things ; — of the earth and clouds, 
winds and waters; of rocks, trees and mountains — sun, 
moon and stars. And it was once regarded as the very 
highest authority in settling questions of natural science. 
But latterly a great change in this respect has come 
over the mind of Christendom. Many of the beliefs 
prevalent in the days of Galileo, have been discarded by 
every religious sect. Many of the deepest thinkers of 
our day have reached the conclusion that the Bible was 
never meant to teach us about natural but only about 
spiritual things; that, rightly understood, it will be 
found to treat exclusively of God, the soul and things 
belonging to the soul's appropriate realm ; that it is, and 
was meant to be, a revelation not of natural but of spir- 



HIS DISCI OSURE. \2J 

itual truth — truth suited to the wants of our higher na- 
ture, and is therefore to be spiritually interpreted. And 
when it speaks in the letter of things belonging to the 
natural realm, in its higher and true sense it speaks of 
the corresponding things within or above nature — thin 
in the realm of spirit. 

For example : When the Bible speaks of man, it 
means the inner and real man — not the material and 
perishable, but the spiritual and immortal part. When 
it speaks of the resurrection, it means the resurrection 
not of the material body, but of the spiritual — the real 
individual temporarily enshrined in matter. When it 
speaks of a second birth, it refers not to a natural or 
carnal birth, but to the birth of the soul into the king- 
dom of heaven. When it speaks of heaven and hell, it 
means no natural localities such as are referred to by 
these terms taken in their natural sense, but certain 
states of the soul — one, exalted and blissful, the other, 
degraded and miserable. When it speaks of the com- 
ing of the Lord, it means no outward coming cogniza- 
ble by the eye of sense, but an inward and spiritual 
coming — a coming of his own truth and love to the un- 
derstandings and hearts of men. When it speaks of 
light and heat, it means truth and love which are spirit- 
ual light and heat to which the natural correspond. 

If, then, it be true, as the deepest thinkers are every- 
where beginning to see and acknowledge, that the Bible 
was not given to teach us natural but spiritual truth, it 
is clear enough that it must be spiritually interpreted. 
Accordingly when it speaks of the sun and of light, we 
are to understand that, in its higher and true sense, the 



1 28 HEA VEN REVEALED. 

spiritual Sun and spiritual light arc what is meant. Take 
a few texts for illustration. Can any one doubt that 
spiritual light, or divine truth which illumines the under- 
standing, is what is meant in passages like the follow- 
ing ? 

"Jesus said, I am the light of the world ; he that fol- 
lowcth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the 
light of life." " Yet a little while is the light with you. 
Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon 
you." " While ye have the light believe in the light, that 
ye may be the children of light." " I am come a light 
into the world, that whosoever believeth in me should 
not abide in darkness." "Light is come into the world, 
but men love darkness rather than light because their 
deeds are evil." " He [the incarnate Word] was the 
true light which lighteth every man that cometh into 
the world." " God is light, and in Him is no darkness 
at all." 

Yes: The light of divine truth which is spiritual, is 
what enlightens the souls of men while they tabernacle 
in the flesh. But it cannot enlighten those who, because 
of their evil loves and their unwillingness to see and 
abandon them, shut their eyes against it. " For every 
one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to 
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." 

But spiritual light must emanate from a spiritual lumi- 
nary, as surely as natural light must come from some 
natural luminary. And what can that luminary be but 
the Lord Himself who is the enlightener of all minds, 
and who, we are assured by Swedcnborg, appears before 



TENDENCY OF THIS DISCLOSUl 

the eyes of the angels in greater or less brilliancy ac- 
cording to their states of receptivity of his wisdom and 
love — his appearance being in exact correspondence with 

the states of the beholders. To the highest angels whose 

love is purest and most ardent, I te appears as a sun of 
indescribable brilliancy ; and to those in lower slates, or 

whose love is less intense, He appears comparatively as 
a moon. Therefore when the Bible speaks of the sun 
and moon, we are to think of something above the nat- 
ural luminaries so named — of the spiritual sun and moon 
to which the natural correspond. 

This will help us to understand the meaning of a pas- 
sage of Scripture which, being literally interpreted, has 
been the occasion of considerable excitement and alarm 
at different periods of the church. We refer to that in 
Matthew (ch. xxiv. — repeated in Mark xiii. and Luke 
xxi.), where, after foretelling the fearful trials — the wars, 
famines, pestilences, etc. (all spiritual, according to the 
true interpretation), which the church would be called 
to encounter before the Lord's second appearing, it is 
added, as if this were the last crowning event in the 
grand drama : " Immediately after the tribulation of those 
days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not 
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven. . . . 
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in 
heaven." 

Christians have generally given to this prophetic an- 
nouncement a sensuous interpretation. But here as 
everywhere else in his Word, the Lord refers to spiritual 
things. He is speaking not of the natural sun, moon, 

and stars, but of the spiritual things to which these 

I 



130 WEN RE VEAL I 

natural luminaries correspond. And since we are, as to 

our spirits, now and always in the spiritual world, there- 
fore we are ever under the influence of the spiritual Sun. 
We recen m it all our spiritual light and warmth. 

But its light dors not appear to our outward sense as 
light (as it docs to the eyes of angels), but manifests 
itself by a certain internal illumination — that kind of 
enlightenment which spiritual truth, when received, fur- 
nishes to the understanding. Nor is its heat sensibly 
perceived by us as heat, but manifests itself by a certain 
warmth (^f feeling, or a kindling in the heart of the 
emotion of love — love of whatever is just, sincere, good 
and true. Thus do the beams of the spiritual Sun reach 
and affect the spirits of people yet in the flesh. But 
when may that Sun be said to be darkened? 

The natural sun always shines with undiminished 
splendor. Yet he undergoes apparent changes. Some- 
times he is wholly or partially eclipsed. Sometimes he 
is obscured by the vapor and smoke in the earth's atmos- 
phere, lie sinks beneath the horizon, and his face is 
hidden from our view. And in familiar language all 
Mich changes are predicated of the sun itself. When 
suffering an eclipse, we say the sun is darkened. Seen 
through mist, dust, or smoke, we say the sun is pale, 
dim, or red. When his face appears in the east, we say 
he is rising ; and when, again, he approaches the western 
horizon, we say he Ing <i< re//. All such language, 

we know, expresses not the absolute but only the ap- 
parent truth. For the sun itself does not change. His 
apparent changes in respect to light, heat, and diurnal 
motion, are all caused by our atmospheric conditions 



VIS /' E 131 

and contents, and the motion of the earth on its 

Carrying this thought along with us (and it is on I 
great importance to every Bible student), we can under- 
stand why changes arc predicated of the spiritual Sun 
(the Lord), when in strictness of language that Sun is 

unchangeable. We can sec that all apparent chan 
in Him arc purely subjective — caused by changes in the 

states of recipient subjects. To the angels of the high- 
est heaven the Lord appears as a sun, because they re- 
ceive his love in the greatest fulness— his appearance 

being in correspondence with their state of life. There- 
fore when the principle of charity or true neighborly 
love ceases to be living and operative in the church, 
then, in relation to the church, the Sun of heaven is 
darkened. 

And to the angels of a lower heaven who receive the 
Lord's love in an inferior degree, but yet are in the 
truths of faith, lie appears comparatively as a moon. 
Accordingly when the Word is misunderstood and fal- 
sified by the church, when faith is in eclipse and falsi- 
ties are taught and accepted for truths, then, in relation 
to the church, the moon does not give her light. And 
when the knowledges of genuine good and truth have 
so far faded out from the minds of professing Christians 
that they no longer know what spiritual good and spir- 
itual truth are, then, in relation to the church, the stars 
have fallen from heaven. 

Now look at Christendom as it was prior to the 
memorable year 1757. Its character stands recorded 
on the page of history. Look at it — and what do we 



132 HEAVEN REVEALED. • 

? That celestial principle of love to the Lord and 
the neighbor which shone conspicuously in the early 
days of the church, making her members of one heart 
and mind and binding them all together in the bonds 
of a beautiful brotherhood — that principle had died out 
or departed from the church. And there was no vital 
faith in the divinity of the Lord, the divinity of the 
Word, or in a life after death. The Scripture had be- 
come falsified on every fundamental doctrine, and spir- 
itual darkness brooded over all Christendom. Even the 
knowledges of spiritual good and truth were lost to the 
great body of the church. As fixed and guiding prin- 
ciples they were no more. They had fallen from their 
heavenly places in men's minds. And thus was fulfilled 
in relation to the church — really and perfectly fulfilled ac- 
cording to its spiritual and true meaning — this pro- 
phetic declaration : " The sun shall be darkened, and 
the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall 
fall from heaven. " 

But at this juncture — amid the general darkness that 
enveloped the church — amid the clouds of ignorance 
and error and doubt and denial which had extinguished 
in the minds of nominal Christians all the heavenly 
luminaries, a glorious light breaks forth to rejoice and 
save a sinking world. From within or above the cloud 
of the letter — out from the living soul of Scripture — out 
from that world where angels dwell, long clouded and 
obscured, the spiritual Sun pours kindling beams on a 
benighted church. And thus the Lord of life appears 
all glorious in the clouds, agreeable to his own pro- 
phetic declaration: "And then shall ye see the Son 



DENCY 01 7 v//s 1 1 IS< 7. ( >s i f R /■:. 

of Man coming in the clouds, with power and great 
glory." 

And mark the signs of this Second Coming — the con- 
sequences of this newly risen Sun. Mark how its pierc- 
ing beams arc dispelling the old darkness ! — how they 
have already pervaded with their light and life nearly 
every department of human thought! Under their 
quickening influence the human intellect has every- 
where burst its old swathing-bands, and leaped forth 
with unprecedented vigor. And on the natural plane 
what a magnificent harvest already begins to wave! 
Science, literature, philosophy, art, industry, politics, 
morals and religion have all begun to feel the influence 
of the Second Coming. . Old things are everywhere 
passing away, and all things are being made new. All 
the forms of human thought prevalent a century ago, 
are changed or changing. Old religious dogmas, old 
systems of philosophy, old forms of government, old 
methods of education, old theories of medicine, old in- 
dustrial processes, old ideas on all subjects, are being 
continually summoned to judgment. And one by one 
they are beginning to rqtire before the waxing light of 
truth, as creatures of the night retire before the opening 
day. In the general enlightenment and progress of 
mankind during the last hundred years, on the natural 
plane of thought and action, do we not witness some- 
thing like a fulfillment of the prophecy ? " For as the 
lightning comcth out of the east, and shineth even unto 
the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man 
be." 

We thus see that the great Swede's disclosure con- 

12 



HEAVEN REVEALED. 

cerning light and heat in heaven, and their origin, while 
perfectly reasonable in itself, accords well with the teach- 
ings of Scripture, is most beneficent in its practical ten- 
dency, and helps us to a truer and more rational inter- 
pretation of some portions of the written Word. Can- 
did and thoughtful minds will not reject the concurrent 
testimony of all these witnesses. 



XI. 

ENVIRONMENT IX HEAVEN, A XI) WHAT DETER- 
MINES IT 

HAVH the angels an outward or phenomenal world 
as people on earth have? If so, what is its gen- 
eral character or aspect, and what determines it? Since 
they possess the human organs, eyes to see and hands 
to handle things, we should expect there would be ob- 
jects to be seen and handled. We cannot conceive of 
their existing as human beings without an earth to 
stand and walk upon ; nor can we conceive of their 
being in a blissful state with no kind of objective world, 
and compelled to gaze forever on mere emptiness. But 
what answer does Swcdenborg give to the above ques- 
tions ? Briefly this : 

That the angels live upon a substantial earth (not 
material), and are surrounded by innumerable objects 
that are far more beautiful and perfect than any that ex- 
ist on earth — but all spiritual. And their senses being 



i IN HEAVl 

far more acute than ours, and the light in which th 
dwell far more brilliant, th in their 

world with r distil i than w< : in 

our-. And the law which determines the t of their 

outward world, is the same as that according to which 
the Sacred Scripture is written the same law that al 
ways governs in the descent of the Divine love and u 
dom to ultimates the law of correspondence between 
the int< rnal and external, ov between cause and effect 
Spirit tends forever to clothe itself in correspondential 
forms. It cannot become clothed in any other. God 
cannot speak or reveal Himself to finite beings, except 
according to correspondence. lie cannot create, and 
SO exhibit his love and wisdom to the senses of men, 
except according to the same law. And the objects 
which appear in heaven, exist there by virtue of an in- 
flux from the Divine into the minds of the angels, and 
through them into their outward or phenomenal world. 
The character of their outer is therefore determined by 
that of their inner world. The former is the visible 
representation of the latter. The things which greet 
their senses are the creations, and therefore the corre- 
spondential forms, of their own affections and thoughts. 
Thus their outward world corresponds in all respects to 
the world within them. Every active principle in their 
minds is pictorially represented to the outward sense, 
and under a form perfectly correspondent. The objects 
round about them, therefore, are so many mirrors, as it 
were, reflecting with mathematical precision the world 
of thought, affection and purpose within them. But we 
will give Swedenborg's report on this subject in his own 



I 36 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

language. The following extracts contain the substance 
of it: 

11 The nature of the objects which appear to the angels 
in heaven cannot be described in few words. For the 
most part they are like the things on earth, but in form 
more perfect and in number more abundant. That such 
things exist in heaven, is evident from those seen by 
the prophets [as by Ezekiel, Chap, xl.-xlviii.; by 
Daniel, Chap, vii.-xii. ; by John, Rev., from first to 
last chapter]. They saw such things when they were 
in the spirit and heaven was opened to them ; and heaven 
is said to be opened when the interior sight which is 
that of a man's spirit, is opened. For the things in 
heaven cannot be seen with the bodily eyes, but with 
the eyes of the spirit." — II. II. n. 171. 

M Whenever it has been granted me to be in company 
with angels, the things of heaven have appeared to me 
exactly like those in the world, — so perceptibly indeed, 
that I knew not but that I was in the world, and in the 
palace of a king there. . . . Since all things which cor- 
respond to the interiors [of the angels] also represent 
them, therefore they are called representatives. And 
since they vary according to the state of the interiors 
with the angels, therefore the) 7 are called appearances; 
although the objects which appear before their eyes, and 
which are perceived by their senses, appear and arc per- 
ceived as much to the life as those on earth appear to 
man; nay, much more clearly, distinctly and perceptibly. 
The appearances thence existing in the heavens are called 
teal appearances, because they really exist. 

41 To illustrate the nature and quality of the objects 
which appear to the angels according to correspondences, 
I will here adduce a single instance. To those who are 
in intelligence there appear gardens and paradises full 
of trees and flowers of every kind. The trees are planted 
in the most beautiful order, and so interwoven as to form 



EA t \J 

arbors with entrances of verdant fret-work, and walks 

around them, — all of such beauty as no lang i aw 

describe. . . . There are also species of trees and flow- 
ers there, such as were never se< n and could not exist 
in the world. On the trees also are fruits according to 

the ^ood oi love in which the intelligent are principled. 
Such things are seen by them, because a garden and 

paradise and also fruit trees and flowers correspond to 
intelligence and wisdom. 

"The paradisiacal scenery of heaven is stupendous. 
There are paradisiacal gardens presented to view, of an 

immense extent, consisting of all sorts of trees, of a 

iut\' and pleasantness exceeding every idea of human 

thought, which yet appear in so living a manner before 

their external sight, that they not only see them in the 
gross, but also perceive every single object much more 
vividly than the bodily sight does when exercised on 
similar objects here on earth." — A. C. n. 1622. 

" Representatives are presented in the other life accord- 
ing to states of the interiors with spirits, for they are corre- 
spondences. Around spirits who are in truths from good, 
appear the most beautiful representatives, namely, houses 
and palaces glittering with gold and precious stones, also 
gardens and paradises of ineffable beauty ; all these from 
correspondence. But around those who are in truths 
not from good, there appear nothing but craggy places, 
rocks, and bogs, and sometimes shrubberies, but un- 
pleasant and barren ; these also are from correspond- 
ence. But around those who are in falsities from evil, 
there appear fens, privies and other offensive objects : 
the reason of which is, that all representatives in the 
other life are external things figured according to the 
states of the interiors ; for thus the spiritual world pre- 
sents itself visible there." — Ibid. n. 10,194. 

"The visible objects which are in heaven correspond 
12* 



I38 HEAVEN REVEALED, 

to the interiors of the angels, or to those things which 
belong to their Faith and love, and thence to their intel- 
ligence and wisdom." Some " live in elevated places 
which appear like mountains, . . . and in a vernal atmos- 
phere. There are presented before them, as it were, 
fields, harvests and vineyards. Everything in their 

houses glistens as if made of precious stones; . . others 

dwell in gardens where appear beds of flowers and grass- 
plats beautifully arranged, and rows of trees round about, 

together with porticos and walks. The trees and Bow- 
ers are varied every day. The view of the whole in 
genera] presents delights to their minds, and the varieties 
in particular continually renew them. And because these 
objects correspond to things divine, and those who be- 
hold them are in the knowledge of correspondences, 
they are perpetually replenished with new knowledges 
whereby their spiritual rational faculty is perfected." — 
II. II. n. 489. 

"Substances in the spiritual world appear as if they 
were material, but still they are not. And since they 
are not material, therefore they are not constant, being 
correspondences of the affections of the angels, and 
permanent with their affections, and disappearing with 
them."— D.W., § VIII. See also A. K. n. 650/ 121 1, 
'12, T8, '26. 

Such is the uniform teaching of Swedenborg concern- 
ing the objective world in heaven, and its determining 
cause. And can we conceive of anything more reason- 
able ? It satisfies the best instincts and deepest longings 
of our nature — yes, and the intuitions of our highest 
reason also. For what is more reasonable than that the 
outer world of those in the realms of bliss, should be in 
complete correspondence with their inner world ? — a true 



1 I - 

ntation of their noble and beautiful souls? 
The flowers of love th; ropening in their hearts, 

the fruits of charity th x busy in bri forth, 

the n and living things of intelligence which are 

istantly sprin within them— why should not 

tin forth ami embody themselves or appear under 

forms of beauty and loveliness? Why 
should not the fragrance, verdure and bloom of the out 
ward ang :lic world, he in perfect correspondence with 
the fragrance, beauty and bloom of angelic minds? 

.Almost every one has an instinctive perception that 
there exists an intimate relation between the beautiful 
and the good — a relation so intimate that the former is 
the divinely ordained representative of the latter. We 
all feel an instinctive repugnance to connecting innocence 
and virtue with dismal scenes or unsightly objects, for 
we recognize their native disagreement, or unsuitableness 
to each other ; while inward evil and outward ugliness 

m naturally to belong together. Thus Milton, in 
portraying the beautiful scenery round about Adam and 
Eve in the daws of their innocence, has but uttered the 
universal sentiment of mankind ; and his utterance, there- 
fore, meets with a ready response from the universal 
human heart. Every one feels that a place less beauti- 
ful than that sweet Garden which the great poet has so 
finely pictured, would not have agreed with the innocence 
and purity of the couple he describes. So universal is 
the perception that the good and the beautiful belong 
together, and that the Creator designed the one to be 
the visible image of the other. Considering the purity 
and innocence of the denizens of heaven, what, then, 



140 HE A VEX REVEALED. 

might we reason ibly expect would be the character of 
their surroundings ? 

Then the light in which the angels dwell, and which 
is said to be a thousand-fold brighter than that of our 

sun, is another consideration in favor of the truth of 
Swedenborg's disclosures on this subject. For if they 
are in a state to bear a thousand-fold brighter light than 
people on earth enjoy, then the objects they behold 
around them ought to be a thousand times more numer- 
ous and beautiful than are seen here on earth. Besides, 
we know that the most exalted and enlightened minds 
always see with other eyes than those of the ignorant 
and depraved. The former, on account of their superior 
purity and enlightenment, behold a world of beauty which 
is quite hidden from the latter. All the ways and works 
of God are surpassingly beautiful ; but light and the right 
kind of eyes are needed to enable the beholder to dis- 
cern their beaut)'. By virtue, therefore, of their superior 
light and better eyesight, the angels ought to see round 
about them precisely such a beautiful world as Swcden- 
borg has described. 

And the Bible adds its testimony also to that of reason, 
experience, and the best instincts of our nature. Read 
the description of the Garden in which man is said to 
have been placed at the time of his creation, and where 
" the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleas- 
ant to the sight and good for food." For although that 
Garden and all its beautiful belongings arc not to be 
literally interpreted — although they are to be taken as 
the representatives of the internal states of the most 
ancient people in the days of their innocence and in- 



EA VIRO • T IN HE ir. i.ji 

rity — the account our purpose none the 1 

for all that For the beautiful surroundings of tin- 
are but the outward representatives of their internal states 
— their affections ami thoughts -and are in perfect cor- 

pondence with them. 

And because the Scripture is composed according to 
the same great law that determines the aspect of the ob- 
jective world in the Hereafter, therefore the Lord's spir- 
itual kin-clem — the regenerate human soul, viewed singly 
or collectively — is described in the Bible by the various 
precious metals, innocent animals, and beautiful objects 
in nature; as by gold and silver; by sheep, lambs and 
doves ; by mountains and hills and well-watered gardens; 
by vineyards and oliveyards, cedar-trees and the trees 
of lign-aloes; by a good land, "a land of water-brooks, 
and fountains that spring out of valleys and hills" ; "a 
land of vines and fig-trees and pomegranates. " These 
and other like things are often mentioned in the Word 
where the Lord's kingdom — the regenerate human heart 
— is treated of. And we cannot suppose such things 
were selected without a sufficient reason. They are a 
part of God's own Word ; and when the Divine speaks 
or acts, it is ever according to the highest reason and 
perfect divine order. And the reason why such things 
are mentioned in the Word when the states of the re- 
generate are treated of, is, that they are the correspond- 
ential forms of those heavenly principles which the 
Lord establishes in the hearts of all whom He creates 
anew in his own image and likeness. And these prin- 
ciples, in becoming embodied under the various beauti- 
ful forms which appear in heaven, are only assuming 



142 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

their own appropriate vestments, — the very forms which 
the Creator Himself has ordained for them. 

Let us now look at the law which, according to Swe- 
denborg, determines the whole character or aspect of the 
objective world in the 1 (ereafter. If it is not susceptible 
of a complete demonstration, we hope at least to furnish 
strong presumptive evidence of its truth. 

This law, as already stated, is that of correspondence, 
which means a relation similar to that existing between 
the soul and the body. It is in the nature of every spir- 
itual principle to go forth and embody itself under some 
outward form. And the form must correspond to the 
living principle that enters into, creates and sustains it. 
We see this tendency of the human spirit constantly 
manifested here on earth ; for even here the affections 
of every man are forever seeking embodiment, and they 
first create for themselves certain correspondential forms 
in the thought of the understanding. Thus their forms 
exist mentally, or in the world within man, before they 
attain a visible and tangible existence in the world with- 
out him. They are visible to the mental before they are 
seen by the bodily eye. This is true of everything that 
man creates — temples, houses, gardens, machinery, pic- 
tures, statuary, furniture, clothing, and the like. These 
things are the offspring of some desire or love with which 
they correspond as body with soul; and they all existed 
as objects of thought in man's spiritual world (his mind), 
before the)' existed as objects of sight in the natural 
world. There is nothing made by the hand of man which 
was not, in all its parts, visible to the eye of the mind 
before it was visible to the eye of sense; and nothing 



T IN HEAVE v. [43 

which does not correspond to the love that gave it birth, 
ct corresponds to cause, or body to soul. Thus 
all the things in this natural world which arc products 
of human ingenuity, arc correspondences of the affec- 
tions and thoughts of nun. They are visible represen- 
tative forms of certain invisible mental states which they 
body forth and to which they correspond. And the 
changes which are continually taking place in th.it por- 
tion of the outward world which is subject to man's con- 
trol, keep pace with men's internal or mental changes to 
which they correspond, and without which no outward 
changes could occur. 

Every individual on earth strives to create around him- 
self (and succeeds if he has the means and opportunity) 
an outward or objective world which is in exact corre- 
spondence with his inner or mental world — that is, so far 
as relates to the natural degree of Ids mind. He impresses 
himself, as to this degree, on whatever he makes or causes 
to be made. His own mind, his coarseness or his cul- 
ture, his refined taste or the absence of it, is visibly 
stamped on all around him, — on the house he builds, the 
furniture he orders, the pictures he buys, the trees he 
plants, and the flowers he cultivates. If his means and 
opportunity are ample, all his surroundings will, after a 
while, be a certain representative image of himself; they 
will be in exact correspondence with his external or 
natural mind, and therefore a true expression of the 
natural affections and thoughts in which they originated. 
So true is this, and so well understood generally, that 
almost any careful observer can tell at a glance, by his 



1^4 HEAVEN REVEALED, 

visible surroundings, the man of culture and refinement 
from one of low breeding and depraved tastes. 

And as with individuals, so with communities or men 
in larger form. Every community, so far as its means 

will permit, creates an outer in correspondence with its 
inner world — that is, with its own prevailing mental 
character. Let a man travel through South Africa or 
Patagonia, and then visit the towns and villages of New 
England or Old England, and although he might not 
converse with one of the inhabitants, but only look at 
their environment, he would see the difference in the 
mental condition of the people of those countries as 
plainly as if their affections and thoughts were all writ- 
ten in a book. 

But it is to be observed that the world which people 
create round about them here, being external and natural, 
is in correspondence not with their internal and spiritual, 
but with their external and natural thoughts and affec- 
tions. And if there exists this correspondence between 
the natural mind and the world which this mind creates 
round about itself in the realm of nature — if we see every- 
where a strong tendency in natural affections and thoughts 
to go forth and embody themselves under corresponding 
natural forms — then it is reasonable to conclude that this 
law of correspondence must be the very law that de- 
termines the character or aspect of the objective world 
in heaven. What other conceivable law is there, to 
which the rationed mind so readily yields assent? 

Furthermore, even- one knows how much the outward 
aspect of all things on earth depends on the mental state 
of the beholder. The outer is ever taking on the com- 



/• M HEAV1 x. 145 

plexion of the inner world, even here. There are times 
when a dismal pall seems spread over all creation ; when 
all around us seems like a desert; when the sweet 
flowers are undelightful, and the laughter of children has 
no music to our ears, and the faces of dearest friends no 

beaut\' to our eyes ; — tunes when the loveliest scenes in 

nature— the brightest sunshine and the verdant earth — 

have for us no cheerful smile, but rather an indignant 

frown. And are not these the times when the heart is 
cold and desolate and sad? when darkness and gloom 
brood over our inner world? But when the sunshine 
returns to the soul, when the heart glows with affection, 
and hope is bright and buoyant, and the world within 
us becomes lighted up with a sweet and serene joy, how 
changed is the aspect of the world without ! Nature no 
longer mourns or frowns, but greets us everywhere with 
benignant smiles. The very air seems balmy, as if laden 
with the perfume of flowers. The faces of friends beam 
with unwonted lustre. There is music in the rain's dull 
drizzle, and in the wind's low sigh. The aspect of the 
whole outward world is changed, and that which seemed 
so sombre and frowning but a little while ago, is now 
radiant with beauty and with smiles. 

Such is the controling, power which our inner or sub- 
jective exerts over our outer or objective world, even 
here on earth. Such the manifest tendency of the soul 
to stamp its own moods or complexion on all its sur- 
roundings ; — to color and shape the outward in complete 
correspondence with itself. Men of the deepest insight 
have ever seen and acknowledged this law. It is well 
expressed by one of our own poets, who sings : 
13 K 



146 //. j i.n. 

"It fate 

hape the outward to its own estate. 

If right Itself, then all around is well; 

If wrong, it makes of all without a hell. 

Turn where thou wilt, thyself in all things see 

I; flecte I back. — 

Who has no inward beauty, none perceh 
Though all around is beautiful. — 

Soul ! fearful is thy power, which thus transforms 
All things into thy likem 

If such be the power of the soul here on earth, to 
"transform all things into its likeness/ 1 what should re- 
sult when it is released from its material clog and earthly 
limitations, and brought consciously into a world, the 
substances of which being altogether spiritual, are plastic 
to it^ every breath? What but the very thing declared 
in the passages cited near the commencement of this 
chapter? We submit that the only rational conclusion 
to be drawn from the brief argument we have here pre- 
sented, is, that there is just such an outward or objective 
world in heaven as Swedcnborg has described, the char- 
acter or aspect of which is determined by the great and 
universal law that he has revealed — the law according to 
which the Sacred Scripture is written, and creation has 
pro 1 from the beginning, and spirit in all worlds 

forever seeks to embody itself — the law of correspond- 
ent 

\w\ let it be added in conclusion (and this is further 
evidence of its truth) that the doctrine is not purely 
speculate might at first be supposed, but one of 



i. J; 

great practical value. It offers us a heaven thai is nol .1 
realm oi unsubstantial shadows, but one of substantial 
It shows us myriads of human beings, once 
denizens of earth, n Ivanced to a more perfect 
with faculties improved, and all the senses become far 
more acute, and an external world of indescribable 
beauty. And by revealing the underlying and determin- 
ing cause of its wondrous beauty — the pure and unselfish 
loves in the hearts of the angels — it acquaints us with 
this momentous fact: that our objective world in the 
I [ereafter will be a complete representative of our inner 
selves, in exact correspondence with our own characters 
or ruling loves ; beautiful beyond conception if these are 
noble and unselfish, but dreary and dismal if they are 
mean and selfish. It shows us that, since we take our 
characters with us into the other world and can take 
nothing else, therefore every one will take with him his 
own heaven or — his own hell ; for both these kingdoms 
are within men's souls; and the heaven or the hell that 
will be visible round about us in the Hereafter, will be 
the correspondential image of thatwhich has been formed 
within us here. 

Thus the doctrine settles forever — and upon a basis 
as substantial as the soul itself— the question in regard 
to our entrance into heaven, showing the utter impossi- 
bility of admission from immediate mercy. It teaches 
with clearness and impressiveness the solemn truth, that 
each one is making while here on earth, his garden or 
his wilderness, his paradise or his desert, for the ages to 
come ; — is building for himself a beautiful palace or a 
gloomy prison-house that is to endure forever. What 



I48 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

teaching can be more solemn than this? What more 
practical, or more potent in benign influence when clear- 
ly Understood and cordially accepted? 



XII. 
SOCIETIES IN HEAVEN. 



ARE the angels endowed w r ith social affections kin- 
dred to those of men? and have they an oppor- 
tunity to exercise them ? Do they all dwell in one 
society, or are there many societies? And if arranged 
into societies, what is the law that governs in the ar- 
rangement? What answer does Swedcnborcr give to 
these inquiries? — for he must have known how the case 
is, if his claim to open intercourse with the heavenly 
world be well founded. But we will first consider the 
subject in the light of reason. 

It was shown in the early part of this work that the 
angels are all from the human race. They are human 
in their form and nature — men and women in an ad- 
vanced or thoroughly regenerate state. Therefore they 
must possess social qualities; and social qualities imply 
social relations, or the existence of societies. For man 
is a social being. 1 le was created to live in society ; and 
he cannot be happy without intercourse with his fellows. 
In a perfectly isolated state, what would there be to call 
forth his affections or to give exercise to his varied pow- 
ers? The faculties of each soul have a definite relation 
to Other souls, as truly as the eye has to light, the ear 



CIETIES FN HEAVa i.jo 

to air, the tongue to flavors, and the nose to odo 
Which proves that man w, ited for society, as plaii 

as our bodily senses, by their very constitution, presup- 
pose the existence of light, air, flavors and odors, 

which they bear a fixed unci definite relation. 

Resides, we know that people are not happy when de- 
prived of all intercourse with their fellows. And for this 
obvious reason : that they are gifted with affections which 
crave the fellowship of kindred minds, and they cannot 
be happy without the opportunity to exercise these af- 
fections. We can hardly conceive of a severer sentence 
than that which condemns a human being to solitary 
confinement for a long time. Cases have occurred where 
such isolation has caused an utter wreck of the mental 
faculties, reducing the individual to a state of lunacy. 

Unless, therefore, all the native and strong appetencies 
of the soul are to be extinguished in the Hereafter — un- 
less our mental constitution is to be entirely changed, 
we must then as now desire association with others. 
And to possess this innate social inclination, this hunger 
of the heart for society,- and at the same time to be de- 
nied the possibility of social intercourse, would render 
us supremely miserable. Much of our happiness in this 
world, comes from the exercise of our social feelings — 
from the interchange of thought with kindred minds, 
and the doing of kindly deeds for others. From all of 
which the conclusion is inevitable, that the angels must 
possess a social nature ; and if heaven is a happy state, 
they must have ample opportunity for its exercise. And 
this involves the necessity of social intercourse and social 
relations. 
13* 



I 50 HEA I EN RE J r EAL ED. 

But do all the angels live in one and the same society? 

This seems highly improbable. It would not be in ac- 
cordance with the Divine order and arrangements as 
revealed in this lower world. Here, all things are dis- 
tributed into series or societies. They are beautifully 
grouped ; yet the groups exist and work together in ad- 
mirable harmony. 

There are groups of suns and systems in the immensity 
of space ; and groups of planets in the several systems. 
And on the earth trees and flowers are usually grouped, 
one variety flourishing in one locality, and a different one 
in another. So, too, birds, animals, insects and fishes 
are commonly found in groups. And every muscle in 
our bodies consists of a group of similar fibres, and every 
crystal in the bosom of the earth, of a group of lesser 
crystals. 

It is evidently God's plan, therefore, to arrange things 
of a similar nature into groups or societies. And we 
may reasonably conclude that man, for whose behoof 
all other things were created, would not form an excep- 
tion to this general plan. We should expect that heaven 
would be typified by the things of earth that are in order; 
and that the angels would be distributed into many dif- 
ferent but concordant societies. 

But a still stronger argument may be drawn from the 
known diversity in human character. This diversity de- 
pends not merely upon a difference in education, habits, 
and outward circumstances, but equally upon a difference 
in the native constitution of men's minds. No two minds 
are ever constituted precisely alike. No two things in 
the universe are exactly alike — no two pebbles on the 



Lch, no two leaves on a tree, no two feathers on a bi 
no two hairs on the head of man or body of beast And 
the reason is, that the Creator, being Himself infinite, 
delights in variety. And the diversity existing ami 
men in the original constitution of their minds as well 
as in their features and complexion, is similar to that ob- 
servable throughout the created universe. Sometimes 
this diversity is slight, as among people of the same tribe 
or nationality ; sometimes scarcely discernible, as among 
those of the same family. Again, — as among people of 
different races, the Malay and the American, the African 
and the Caucasian, — the diversity is very wide. And 
these people are just as different in their mental charac- 
teristics as in their physical constitution. 

Now this known diversity of character is the distribut- 
ing social force among people in this world, whereby 
they are arranged into different groups or societies. In 
general, different races and nationalities do not incline 
to associate. But Africans prefer the society of Africans; 
Chinamen the society of Chinese ; English, French, Ger- 
mans, Italians, etc., the society of those of their own 
nation. And for this obvious reason : that people of the 
same nation are usually most alike in their tastes, habits 
and feelings ; and people everywhere prefer the society 
of those who are most like themselves. 

And among people of the same country we find many 
different societies, resulting from diversity of character 
and that implanted inclination which leads men to pre- 
fer the society of kindred minds. Every one has his 
circle of intimate friends, in whose society he finds him- 
self most free and happy. And these arc usually peo- 



152 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

pie of a character near akin to his own — of similar tastes, 
habits, manners, feelings and purposes. It is this simi- 
larity of character which draws them together, and ren- 
ders their society mutually agreeable. I fence we find 
those who are deeply absorbed in any particular subject 
— as temperance, peace, abolition, moral reform, and the 
like — anxious to make the acquaintance and enjoy the 
society of persons known to be interested in the same 
subject. 

And where religion has taken a strong hold on the 
mind of a community, especially if doctrine or ritual is 
more thought of than the spirit and life of religion, there 
you will find those of similar beliefs and ecclesiastical 
preferences, drawn into the same society. They associate 
under the prompting influence of that implanted instinct 
which attracts each one to his like. Thus Methodists 
prefer to associate with Methodists, Baptists with Bap- 
tists, Friends with Friends, Catholics with Catholics, and 
so on. And there is nothing wrong in this. Each one, 
in choosing the society of those most like himself, is but 
yielding to a law of his nature — the law of spiritual af- 
finity. The wrong comes when, through a narrow and 
mistaken view of the subject, people look upon those of 
a society or creed different from their own, as therefore 
inferior to or less righteous than themselves, and assume 
toward them an unfriendly attitude. 

We have an illustration of the same law in all volun- 
tary associations ; for the evil as well as the good are 
drawn together by mutual affinity. Thus profligates 
prefer the society of profligates, gamblers the society of 
gamblers, thieves the society of thieves; and tipplers, 



W HEAV* I 5 \ 

burglars, pirates, and the like, the society of those of 
like character. The law is universal. Everywhere like 
ones have an affinity for each other; and by the force 
of such affinity they are drawn and held together. And 
it is only in the society of like ones that they feel quite 
content and at home. They are then free and feel at 
home, because they feel at liberty to act out themselves 
— to speak as they think, and do as they desire. 

And the same great law is observable everywhere 
throughout the domains of animated nature. Beasts, 
birds, fishes and insects are found grouped according 
to this same law. Those of the same species are found 
in the same group, because of their mutual affinity. They 
love to be together. Nor does this law cease to operate 
even in the lower kingdoms of nature. Every tree is 
but a group of homogeneous fibres, and every simple 
mineral a group of homogeneous atoms which are drawn 
and held together by force of mutual attraction. There 
can be no doubt, therefore, about the universality of this 
law; and if universal, it must exist in heaven as well as 
on earth. 

But setting aside the argument from analogy, is not 
the wide diversity observable among men, viewed in 
connection with the fact that every one takes his own 
character with him into the other world, sufficient of 
itself to prove the distribution of the heavenly inhabi- 
tants into many distinct societies ? And from what we 
know of the law that governs in human associations on 
earth, we may infer the law that governs in angelic as- 
sociations in heaven. It is the law of spiritual affinity. 
In heaven as on earth, those nearest alike in character 



1 5 | HEAVEN REVEALED. 

must love to be together, and feel happiest and most at 
home in each other's society. As natural attraction, 
therefore, is the law in the natural world, that arrang 

in distinct groups objects most nearly related, so spirit- 
ual attraction determined by the spiritual relationship 
and consequent affinity of spirits, ought to be the law 
in the spiritual world that distributes both good and 
evil spirits into man)' distinct societies. 

And precisely this is what has been revealed through 
Swedenborg on the subject. lie says that the angels 
are distributed into innumerable societies, some of them 
consisting of myriads and others of thousands. And 
there is nothing forced or arbitrary in this arrangement 
Every one goes in freedom to the society he loves and 
is nearest akin to. The law that governs in all angelic 
ociations, he says, is the law of spiritual affinity. 
Through the constant operation and force of this law, 
angels of like character are drawn together and held to- 
gether in the same society. To cite his own words: 

"The angels do not all dwell together in one place, 
but are distinguished into larger and smaller societies 
according to the differences of the good of love and 
faith in which they are. The)' who are in similar good 
form one society. Goods in the heavens are of infinite 
variety, and every angel is such in character as is his 
own good. Those of like character are brought to- 

ther as it were spontaneous!}'; for with their like they 
air as with their own [relations] and at home; but with 
others, as with strangers and abroad. When they are 
with their like they are also in their freedom, and thence 
in every delight of life. 

41 All who are in similar good also know each other 
■ — although they had never met before — just as men in 



i >; 

the world know their kindred, relations and fricn 
The reason is, that in the other life there are no kin- 
dreds, relationships and fri mdships but such as are S] 
itnal, that is, of love and faith. I have several times 
been permitted to see this, when I have been in the 
spirit, withdrawn as it were from the body, and thus in 
company with angels. On such occasions I hav< 

nc who seemed as if I had known them from infan 
But othei ned wholly unknown to me. They who 

med as it' known from infancy, were those who w 
in a state similar to the state of my spirit ; but they who 

were unknown, were in a dissimilar state." — II. II. n. 
41-46 ; also A. R. n. 61 I. 

"The universal heaven is distinguished into soci< 
according to the differences of the love of good, and 

every spirit who is elevated into heaven and becom 
an angel, is conveyed to that society which is distin- 
guished by his ruling love. On his arrival there, he is 
as though he were at home, and living in the house 

where he was horn. The angel perceives this, and is 
there consociated with those like himself. When he 
departs thence, and goes to some other place, he is al- 
ways sensible of a certain inward resistance, attended 
with a desire to return to his like, and thus to his ruling 
love. It is in this way. that consociations in heaven are 
effected. The like occurs in hell, where also they are 
consociated according to loves which are the opposite 
of the loves of heaven." — Ibid. n. 479. 

All good people, we know, are not quite congenial, 
and would not be happy in each other's society. Their 
good is of a different quality; and there are many kinds 
and degrees of good even in heaven, some of which are 
widely different from others. "As all in heaven," says 
Swedenborg, "are distinguished according to goods, it 



156 HEA l r EN RE I BALED. 

may be clearly seen how manifold and various good is; 
for it is so various that there is no instance of one being 
in like good with another; yea, if myriads of myriads 

should be multiplied to eternity, the good of one would 
not be like that of another, just as the face of one is 
never like the face of another. Good also in the heav- 
ens forms the faces of the angels." — A. C. n. 7236. 

And as there are countless degrees of good in heaven, 
so there is, according to Swedenborg, an endless variety 
there. And this variety adds greatly to its perfection. 
It is this which necessitates the distribution of the angels 
into many distinct societies; for only those who are in 
a similar kind and degree of good, have a strong affec- 
tion for each other. There may be a thousand persons 
— all good; but their good may be so different both in 
kind and in degree, that they feel no strong attraction 
toward each other, and would not, if left in perfect free- 
dom, choose each other's society. Being spiritually un- 
like, they would prefer to live apart; for they are spir- 
itually remote from each other. As Swedenborg says : 

"The angelic societies in the heavens are also distant 
from each other according to the general and specific 
differences of their goods. For distances in the spirit- 
ual world are from no other origin than from a differ- 
ence in the states of the interiors; consequently, in the 
heavens, from a difference in the states of love. Those 
arc far apart who differ much, and those are near who 
differ little. Similarity brings them together." — II. 11. 
n. 42. 

" All in heaven are consociatcd according to spiritual 
affinities, which are those of good and truth in their 
order. So is it in the whole heaven, SO in every society, 



SOCIE Til S IN HEAV1 l$7 

and so in every house. Hence it is that the angels who 
are in similar good and truth, know each other like those 
related by consanguinity and affinity on earth, just as if 

thc>- had been acquainted from infancy." — 11. II. n. 205. 

We are told, also, that there is a similarity of expres- 
sion— a strong family likeness — among those of the same 
society; for the affections are there clearly revealed in 

the face, which is their representative image. No one in 

heaven has a face that does not correspond to and faith- 
fully express his prevailing affections. 

M All who belong to the same angelic society, resemble 
each other in general, but not in particular. ... It is well 
known that every race of people have some general re- 
semblance in the face and eyes, whereby they are known 
and distinguished fron) other races; and the distinction 
between families is still more marked. But it is more 
perfect in the heavens, because there all the interior af- 
fections appear and shine forth from the face, for the face 
in heaven is the external and representative form of those 
affections. No one in heaven is permitted to have a face 
that is not in correspondence with his affections." — Ibid, 
n. 47. 

The reasonableness of all this is too obvious to need 
any argument. And these disclosures accord with the 
teachings of Scripture as well as with the intuitions of 
reason. The " many mansions " in the Father's house 
of which the Divine Saviour spake, clearly point to the 
many angelic societies resulting from the endless di- 
versity of good and truth in heaven. Besides, the word 
translated heaven is usually found in the plural (heavens), 
both in the original Hebrew and Greek of the Bible — 
another circumstance indicative of the fact that there are 
14 



158 WEN RE VEALED. 

many heavens, or many different states, all of which are 
od ami heavenly, necessitating therefore many differ- 
ent angelic societies; for every such society is a heaven 

in a less form. The apostle Paul, too, speaks of being 
u caught up to the third heaven " on one occasion, — a 
fact revealing a diversity of state among the angels, and 

the consequent plurality of the heavenly societies. 

Moreover, there are just as strong reasons for the 
division of the whole angelic heaven into distinct so- 
cieties, as there are for the division of all the inhabitants 
of the spiritual world into the two classes of good and 
evil ; or for the Scripture doctrine of a heaven of angels 
and a hell of devils. For the many different societies 
both in heaven and in hell, result from the operation of 
the same law that produces the two grand divisions of 
spirits whereof the Bible so often speaks — the law of 
spiritual affinity. This law is not arbitrary, nor of man's 
inventing, but has its foundation in the very constitution 
of the human soul, and is as fixed as the law of chemical 
affinity. It is by virtue of this law that angels of like 
character are drawn together and held together in the 
same society. For every one in the other world yields 
to his attractions, and goes whithersoever his ruling love 
leads him ; and this invariably leads him to the society 
of those who are most like himself. There he is as if 
with his own kindred — they are his spiritual kindred. 
There he is in freedom, is contented and happy. There, 
and there only, does he feel quite at home. 

And here we have another display of the Lord's bound- 
less wisdom and love in providing a home in his own 
house for every one who has learned to love the good 



Til S i v Hi .11 

and the true in however humble a . The African 

and the Arab, the Hindu and the Turk, the Anglo- 
Saxon and the Indian -every one of whatever color, 
clime, or creed, who has religiously followed, the light 
vouchsafed him, will find there a congenial home in the 

:iety of kindred spirits, lie will be among his spir- 
itual kith and kin, and have no desire to he elsewhere, 
being in just the society that is suited to him, and that 
lie most covets. But the heaven of the Mahometan will 
not be that of the Christian, nor will all the good from 
Christian lands dwell together, but everyone in his own 
heaven — every one in the society of those he loves best, 
and in happiness proportioned to the kind and degree 
of his goodness. All who have an affinity for the society 
of the just, will find a congenial home in some one of 
the " many mansions " in the realms above. 

Then look at the practical tendency of this doctrine. 
It is plain to see how it discountenances that narrow and 
exclusive spirit which would have us believe there is but 
one kind and degree of goodness, but one acceptable 
or saving creed, and but one denomination or church 
through which an entrance into heaven can be effected. 
It inculcates the beautiful truth which all the best peo- 
ple in Christendom are beginning to see and acknowl- 
edge, that the church on earth — though one in spirit, like 
the societies in heaven — must needs consist of an end- 
less variety. It deals a fatal blow, therefore, to the old 
sectarianism which has so long disfigured and misrepre- 
sented the Christian religion ; and shows that it is a part 
of the beautiful economy of God, avouched by every- 
thing in heaven as well as on earth, that people's minds 



I Go in . 1 1 '/■ N RE J '/■:. / /. i:d. 

should differ not less widely than their faces; and that 
this very diversity, giving rise to different denominations 
or churches, will ado! to the beauty, Strength and per- 
fection of the whole, when all shall become animated by 
the Divine Master's spirit. 

The catholic spirit of the New Theology, by which 
as well as by its doctrines it is so broadly distinguished 
from the Old, and which is well illustrated by the diver- 
sity in the heavenly societies, may be further seen from 
passages like the following, in which the writings of 
Swedenborg abound. 

" When love to the Lord and charity toward the 
neighbor, that is, the good of life, are made the essen- 
tials with all and with each individual, then churches, 
how many soever they may be, make one ; and each is 
then one in the kingdom of the Lord. This is also the 
case in respect to heaven where there are innumerable 
societies, all different from each other; but still they 
constitute one heaven, because all are principled in love 
to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor [though 
in different degrees]." — A. C. n. 2982. 

"The varieties and differences of doctrinals [in the 
various churches] are innumerable. . . Hut notwith- 
standing there are so many varieties and differences, 
still they together form one church when all acknowl- 
edge charity as the essential of the church; or, what is 
the same, when they have respect to life as the end of 
doctrine; that is, when they inquire how a man of the 
church lives % and not so much what are his sentiments; 
for every one in the other life is gifted with a lot from 
the Lord according to the good of his life, not accord- 
ing to the truth of doctrine separate from this good." — 
Ibid n. 3241. 



TN HEAVl 161 

"The Lord's spiritual kingdom \\\ the heavens is va- 
rious according to what appertains to faith, insomuch 
that there is not one society, nor even one in ty, 

who, in those things which relate to the truth of faith, 
is entirely agreed with others as to his ideas. Never- 
theless the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens 
is one, because all account charity as principal; for 

charity constitutes the spiritual church, and not faith, 
unless you say that faith is charity. Whoever is prin- 
cipled in charity, loves his neighbor, and with i I to 

his dissenting from him in matters of belief this he ex- 
cuses, provided only that he livSs in goods and truths. 
lie does not even condemn the well-disposed Gentiles, 
although they are ignorant of the Lord, and know not 
any truth of faith ; for he who lives in charity, that is, 
in good, receives such truths from the Lord as suit with 
his eood ; and £ood Gentiles receive such truths as in 
another life may be bended into truths of faith." — A. C. 
n. 3267. 

11 Let this truth be received as a principle, that love 
to the Lord and charity towards our neighbor are the 
essentials on which hang all the law, and concerning 
which all the prophets speak, and thus that they are the 
essentials of all doctrine and of all worship, then all 
heresies would vanish, and out of many churches would 
be formed one church, how r ever they might differ as to 
doctrines and rituals. . . Then all would be governed 
as one man by the Lord, being like the members and 
organs of our body, which, although diverse in their 
forms and functions, have nevertheless relation to one 
heart on which they all depend both in general and in 
particular, be their respective forms ever so various. In 
this case, too, every one would say of another, in whatso- 
ever doctrine or in whatsoever external worship he was 
principled, This is my brother; I see that he worships 
the Lord, and that he is a good man." — Ibid. n. 2385. 
14 L 



1 62 lll.MI.X RE VEALED. 

u Let numbers be multiplied even to thousands and 
tens of thousands, if they are all principled in charity or 
mutual love, they all have one end, namely, the common 
good, the kingdom of the Lord, and the Lord himself. In 

which case the varieties in matters of doctrine and wor- 
ship, are like the varieties of the senses and viscera in 

man, which contribute to the perfection of the whole. 
For then the Lord, by means of charity, enters into and 
operates upon all, with a difference of manner accord- 
ing to the particular temper of each ; and thus arranges 
all and every one into order, as in heaven so on earth. 
And thus the will of the Lord is done on earth as it is 
in heaven, according to what He himself teaches." — A. 
C. n. 1285. 



XIII. 
THE 1 1 I'M AX FORM OF HEAVEX. 

SWEDENBORG tells us repeatedly that heaven is in 
the human form. Not only every angel and every 
society of angels, but the entire angelic heaven, he saws, 

is in this form ; so that the angels, viewed collectively, 
appear before the Lord as one man. To cite a single 
passage : 

"The entire heaven resembles one man, who is there- 
fore also called the Grand Man {Maximus Homo). And 
what is wonderful and hitherto unknown, all the parts 
of tile human body correspond to societies in heaven. 
Wherefore it has been occasionally said that some of 
those societies belong to the province of the head, some 
to that of the eye, others to that of the breast, and so 
on." — A. C. n. 2853. See also n. 684, 1276, 2996, '8, 
3021, 3061. 



THE HUMAN FORM OF /////. 103 

This, we arc aware, has an odd sound to the ears of 
most people when they hear it for the first time. P 
haps there are few things in the writings which 

appear more arbitrar\- or fanciful — or, to some minds, 
more ridiculous. It is usually one of the fust things 
which an opponent of his teachings seizes upon and 
flouts. It is often referred to as sufficient evidence in 
itself of the wild and fantastic character of his teachin 
Thus the Rev. Dr. Pond, in his u Swedenborgianism Re- 
viewed," after devoting two or three pages to a statement 
of the doctrine, adds, — 

" To my own apprehension, the whole account is su- 
premely ridiculous ; being destitute alike of sense and 
decency, and worthy only of contempt." — p. 196. 

Let us see, then, if the doctrine be either ridiculous or 
unreasonable. But first let us endeavor to learn what 
the author meant that we should understand by the ex- 
pression, Maximus Homo. 

When Swedenborg says that heaven is in the human 
form, he uses the word form in the sense in which we 
use it when speaking of civil, social, or ecclesiastical 
affairs. We speak of a form of government; but when 
such expression is used, no one thinks of any visible 
shape, but of the nature and adjustment of the various 
parts composing the government. A person who reads 
and understands the organic law of the state, sees therein 
its form of government. We speak, also, of the form of 
society in a particular age or nation ; and by this is meant 
the nature and relation of its several parts — the nature 
and arrangement of its social, industrial, commercial, edu- 



164 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

rational, artistic, moral and religious elements. Again, 
we speak of the form of a church, or of church polity; 
and by this we mean the order, relation, subordination, 

., of its various functionaries, the mode of their ap- 
pointment, and their respective duties. 

When it is said; therefore, that heaven is in the human 
form, the meaning is that it is in human order; that all 

the innumerable societies of which it consists, are so 
arranged and adjusted as to express most perfectly the 
truly human principles which constitute the essential 
spirit and life of heaven. In other words, the relation, 
mutual dependence, and intercommunication of the so- 
cieties composing the whole angelic heaven, and the uses 
the\- respectively perform, correspond to those existing 
among the various organs of the human body, and to 
their respective uses. One is a perfect representative 
image of the other. 

Accordingly, Swedenborg often speaks of the angelic 
societies as located in different organs of the Grand Man; 
of some as in the head, some in the heart, some in the 
spleen, some in the liver; and of others, again, as in the 
eye, ear, knee, or foot. And his meaning is, that such 

cieties correspond to these bodily organs ; that is to 
say, their relation to the other societies of heaven and 
the special functions which they perform in the Grand 
Man, correspond to the relation existing among such 
bodily organs, and to their respective uses in the human 
body. 

11 It has also," he says, " been given me to know what 
particular angelic societies belong to each particular 
province of the body, also what are their qualities; as, 



:: ///.// [6s 

for instance, what and of what quality belong to the 
province of the heart ; what and of what quality to the 
province of the lungs ; what and of what quality to that 

the liver; also what and of what quality to the difl 
ent sensories r as the eye, the ear, the tongue, and so on." 
—A. C. n. j >8. 

It thus becomes plain what he means when he says 
that heaven is in the hum m form. It is a spiritual and 

not a natural idea which he is endeavoring to expn 
And when we -hall have fairly grasped his meaning, and 

duly considered the subject, we shall see that he could 
have employed no other terms which would express so 
fully and with such precision the beautiful and orderly 
arrangement of the whole angelic heaven, and the har- 
monious relation of its innumerable and diverse societies. 

But let us push our inquiry a little further, that we 
may see more clearly the ground and origin as well as 
the truth of this disclosure. 

Everything that exists must exist in some form. And 
the forms of all things will be found to correspond to 
their essential nature, or. to the kind of life that de- 
termines their forms. The form always corresponds to 
the essence. The ox, the eagle, the lion, the dove, each 
has a form suited to its needs, or correspondent to its 
own peculiar life. It follows that the higher and nobler 
the life, the more beautiful and perfect will be the form ; 
otherwise there w r oultl be no correspondence of one with 
the other. 

If we look at the lowest creatures in the animal king- 
dom, we find them closely allied to vegetables, consist- 
ing of few parts, and these comparatively simple in their 



VEALED. 

Structure. Their forms arc inferior, and their wants and 
capacities correspondingly limited. As we ascend the 

scale of animated nature, we find a gradual increase of 
wants ; powers more varied ; faculties enlarged and multi- 
plied. And corresponding to this increase of desires and 
enlargement and multiplication of faculties, we find the 
forms of life also becoming more complex. We find 
them rising above the earth, provided with the means of 
locomotion, and simulating, in degrees more or less re- 
mote, the human form ; until at length we arrive at man, 
the last link in the great chain connecting all below him 
with all above. Created to stand erect, with his feet upon 
the earth and his face toward heaven, he alone is capable 
of looking above himself, and of intelligently reciprocat- 
ing or giving back the love and wisdom which flow from 
(jod. In man, therefore, the circle of life is complete. 
In a state of order he is the image and likeness of his 
Maker. He is the complex, therefore, of all the powers 
and gifts of other creatures, with the two human faculties 
— liberty and rationality — superadded. 

Now it is because human life is the highest and noblest 
kind of life — because human wants are more numerous, 
and the human faculties more enlarged, exalted, and 
varied than those of any other creature, that the human 
form through whose instrumentality alone these faculties 
can manifest themselves, is the very perfection of all 
forms. God himself, who is the perfection of all that is 
human, is in this form. lie is a perfect Divine Alan. 
In Him everything truly human exists in infinite fulness, 
variety and perfection. Therefore when He manifested 
Himself on earth to the eye of sense, He appeared in the 



human form. And \\ hen in more ancient times I [e filled 
the body of an angel with his own Divine life, and ti. 
ame manifest to the spiritual of his chosen 

rs as "the angel of Jehovah/' his form was alwa 
the human. 

Ami it is a Divinelj lied truth that man was 

created in the image and likeness of God. His form, 
therefore, is one capable of receiving ^nd expressing, in 
a finite degree, something of that truly human life which 
flows from the Divine Humanity. This life when re- 
ceived, becomes in man the life of love to the Lord and 
charity toward the neighbor. And this is the essential 
life of heaven. Other creatures below man may receive 
and enjoy lower degrees of life ; but he alone can receive 
and enjoy this higher or heavenly life, because he alone 
is in the human form. And the more we receive of this 
life, the more truly human we become in our thoughts, 
feelings, dispositions and purposes; and the more faith- 
fully do we express through our human form — by our 
looks, words and actions — the love and wisdom which 
are the essential constituents of true humanity. For the 
most beautiful and perfect human form is that which best 
expresses the purest and most exalted human love. 

And as it is with a single individual, so with a society 
or community — with men in the aggregate. The more 
of true human life each member of a community receives, 
or the more each one suffers himself to be governed by 
the highest good and truth, the more orderly, industrious, 
united, healthy and happy is that community. The more 
truly human does it become in its form, organization and 
activities. It appoints its wisest men to preside over its 



l6S HEAVEN RL I 

infc very one is aiming to subject himself 

to the government of the highest good and truth. And 
so the form or order of that community becomes more 
and more human. All its corporate acts express more 
and more faithfully the human thoughts and feelings 
with which the minds of its individual members are im- 
bued. Such community is in the human form, therefore, 
just so far as the individual minds composing it are truly 
human. It is the tendency of true human life, wherever 
it exists, to mould the collective as well as the individual 
man into a corresponding human form. 

But a consideration of the wonderful mechanism of 
the human body, and of the mutual dependence of its 
various parts, will furnish the best idea of the human 
form, and reveal most clearly the order of heaven. For 
as the body in its cntireness corresponds to the soul, so 
its different parts correspond to the various faculties and 
functions of the soul, or to the goods and truths of heaven 
in their various orders and degrees. Therefore the bodily 
organs correspond to the various societies of which the 
whole angelic heaven is composed, and which are the 
living embodiment of these goods and truths. 

On a careful survey of the human System, we find it 
composed of numerous parts which are all different from 
each other. Its structure is the most complex of any 
object in the universe. There is no other created thing 
which consists of so many parts; yet no two of the 
parts are found to be precisely alike. Some of them 
differ widely both in form and function. But, notwith- 
standing the endless number and diversity of parts, they 
are all mutually dependent, mutually adapted to each 



I >A'.]/ < I' 

other's wants, .mil work together in admirable harmony, 
n however minute, has its post led it, 

and its appropriate work given it to do The brain, 
rt, liver, pleura, the lungs, pancreas, and abdominal 
viscera how different are these from each other in 
their form and structure! How different also in their 
functions, or in the work given them to do! Yet how 
admirably do they harmonize! What entire unanimity 
among these numerous and diverse parts ! What per- 
fect concert ^i action! — all the more perfect b< ni 
their diversity. With what beautiful brotherly love do 
they all work ton-ether, and what tender regard has each 
for the welfare of all the rest! If one is out of order, 
all the others are more or less uncomfortable. If one 
suffers, all the rest sympathize and suffer with it. It is 
a law — and herein we have a beautiful illustration of the 
great law of brotherhood — that each shall discharge its 
appropriate function, not apart from the others and for 
the sake of itself alone, but in harmony with and for the 
welfare of all the rest. And the more faithfully it labors 
to do this, the more does it promote its own health and 
strength, as well as the health and strength of the other 
members. The welfare of each is linked indissolubly 
with that of all the others. One life pervades them all, 
and each receives and enjoys that life in proportion as 
it respects and faithfully w T orks for the good of the 
whole. The moment one ceases to do its work, or ap- 
propriates more than its share of the juices elaborated, 
or more than it needs to fit it for the performance of its 
appointed use, that moment comes disease — disease to 
itself and disease to all the rest. And if it persevere in 
15 



I/O HEAVEN REVEALED. 

this abnormal course, sooner or later death ensues. 

Such is the law, fixed and unalterable. There is no 
escape from it. And what a striking exemplification 
docs it furnish of the great law of spiritual life, the law 
of neighborly love! — yes, and the sure consequence of 
a persistent violation of this law. 

Although one life pervades all the bodily organs, 
they do not all receive it alike. Their receptivity is as 
various as their forms. Some receive it in a higher 
degree than others, and perform more important and 
varied functions, and may therefore be said to be of a 
higher grade. And so there are gradations of rank 
among the members of the body. No one is entirely 
independent of the rest. No one is so high that it can 
dispense with the services of the most humble, and no 
one so low that it cannot do something to promote the 
health and strength of the highest. The head needs 
the foot, and the heart the hand, no less than the foot 
needs the head or the hand the heart. Even the hair 
and nails and the coarse cuticle on the soles of the feet 
have their use, and add to the beauty, completeness and 
perfection of the whole. 

Behold, here, then, in the human body, a representa- 
tive image of heaven! — the most perfect image of order, 
harmony, unity, freedom, mutual dependence and broth- 
erly love! The relation of the bodily organs to each 
other, and the uses they respectively perform, are as the 
relation existing among the angelic societies, and their 
respective uses; because heaven as a whole and in each 
of its parts, is in the human form. And notwithstand- 
ing there are in heaven as in the human body grada- 



THE HUMAN FORM OF ///.//. i;r 

tions of rank and office, notwithstanding some th< 
have more important functions to perform than others, 

there is no pride or disdain on the one hand, nor envy 
or humiliation on the other, any more than among the 
different members of the body. Notwithstanding there 
exist authority and obedience, there is nothing like tyr- 
anny on the one hand or slavishness on the other. 
There is the most perfect freedom coupled with un- 
speakable bliss; for everyone acts as his ruling love 
prompts, but he loves nothing which is not good and 
true. Be his office high or low, he does precisely that 
which he is qualified to do best, and in the doing of 
which he finds a pure delight. Conscious that he could 
not be so useful or happy in any other sphere, he has 
no desire to be anywhere or anything else than he is. 
Whatever there is, therefore, of exaltation or subordi- 
nation, of authority or obedience there, neither is felt 
or thought of as such, any more than in the human 
body. 

From what has been said, we trust that Swedenborg's 
meaning, when he says that heaven is in the human 
form, will be sufficiently plain. And although the heav- 
enly societies are innumerable, and all different from 
each other, yet there exists the most perfect union 
among them — a union corresponding to, and beautifully 
symbolized by, that among the different organs of the 
human body. And herein is revealed the true nature 
of that union among Christians on earth, to which the 
Lord refers when He speaks of his disciples being made 
"perfect in one/' It is a union of parts that arc as 
different as are the different members of the human 






172 



HEAVEN RE I J- I /.I.IK 



body; parts animated, nevertheless, by one and the 
same life, as in the case of the bodily organs; for the 

tial life of all in heaven, is the life of love to the 
Lord and the neighbor. 

It cannot be denied that the human form is the most 
perfect of all forms. .And if the Lord's disciples (and 
surely those composing the heavenly societies are to be 
reckoned as such) are "made perfect in one," then must 
the whole hcawn of angels be in the human form ; and 
the doctrine of the Grand Man as revealed through 
Swedenborg, must be true. For under any other form 
than the human, or arranged in any other order than 
that of the different parts of the human body, the heav- 
enly societies could not be said to be " perfected into 
one;" since their arrangement would be less beautiful 
and orderh' and their union less perfect than it might 
be. 

Then the testimony of the great Apostle to the Gen- 
tiles might be cited in corroboration of the truth of this 
doctrine. Writing to the Church at Rome, he says: 
11 For as we have many members in one body, and all 
members have not the same office, so we, being many, 
are one body in Christ." (Rom. xii. 4, 5.) Again to 
the Corinthian Church: " For the body is not one mem- 
ber, but many ; and ye are the body of Christ, and 
members in particular." lie further says there is no 
schism among the bodily members, and there ought 
not, therefore, to be any in the body of Christ ; that the 
various parts or members of this body (the church), 
11 should have the same care one for another." 

)\v the church on earth ought to be, and so far as 



W/AfAA HE ll [73 

it is a true and living church it will be, an im 
heaven. And Paul, in the passages referred to, plainly 
teaches that the church of Christ is in the human form ; 
that its various parts or members, in their mutual rela- 
tion and dependence, correspond to the different parts 
iA the human body. And if many prison 1 earth — 
all of them disciples of the Lord — arc "one body in 
Christ, and every one members one of another," should 
not the same be true in heaven ? Should not the diver- 
sity be even greater there than in the church on earth, 
and the harmony and union at the same time more 
complete? and the form or order oi heaven, therefore, 
more perfectly human than that of the church? 

What, now, are the practical considerations suggested 
by this disclosure? — for it has important practical bear- 
ings. What is its legitimate tendency? Plainly to en- 
large and liberalize the mind that accepts it, and to im- 
part to the affections something of that breadth and cx- 
pansiveness which characterize the Lord's all-encirclinp- 
love. It shows us that there are innumerable kinds and 
degrees of good and truth in heaven, all derived from 
the infinity of the Divine Goodness; endless diversity 
of character and state even among the angels, and conse- 
quently a place somewhere in the abodes of the blessed, 
for every one who has within him anything of the life 
of heaven, however humble in quality or limited in de- 
gree. It is opposed, therefore, to everything like nar- 
rowness, bigotry, sectarianism, or exclusiveness. It 
encourages us to look chiefly at the essential things of 
religion,— the spirit and the life of heaven,— and to regard 
as of comparatively small consequence whatever does 
15* 



174 & v REVEALED. 

not lead to or in some way promote these. It rebult 

the natural disposition to make ourselves the standards 
of all excellence, and to judge the character of others 
by our own peculiar views and feelings; and does not 

allow us to depreciate anotli use it differs 

from our own in kind or in degree. It teaches us that 

>od people are not all alike; that, although so differ- 
ent sometimes as to be quite uncongetfial to each other, 
the}- may, nevertheless, belong to the great body of 
( hrist, — may dwell, as to their spirits, in the same I Ieav- 
enly Father's house, although in different apartments. 

The doctrine further teaches that the most perfect 
union, harmony, peace and good-fellowship arc compat- 
ible with great diversity of character, rank, occupation 
and office; that this diversity, indeed, renders the union 
and harmony all the more perfect when the different 
parts in the social body are duly adjusted, and one life 
pervades them all. It shows us that gradations of rank 
and character may exist without pride, disdain, or tyr- 
anny on the one hand, or envy, jealousy, or humiliation 
on the other; and that these very gradations furnish 
wider scope for the infinitely diversified powers of man, 
and multiply and strengthen the ties that bind the hu- 
man race together. Its tendency is to make us regard 
as honorable every position and occupation in life which 
i^ useful ; to lead every one to desire and seek just that 
sphere of usefulness which his gifts of body and mind 
best qualify him to fill; and whether that sphere be 
h or l<»w -in the head or foot, the eye or hand of 
the social body — to work there contentedly and faith- 
full}', forever thankful that he is a man. 



1 | this doctrine b Tally accepted and devoutly 

believed, and what a change would speedily be wrought 
by it in nearly all existing churches! How quickly 
would bigotry, intolerance, and belittling sectarianism 

— all doleful creatures of the night — take their depart- 
ure, as owls and bats retire at the approach of dawn I 

r all agree that the Church on earth ought to he, 
and in a state of true order will be, somewhat like the 
church in heaven. All Christians, indeed, pray for this. 
Accepting, therefore, the new doctrine of the human 
form of heaven — the doctrine of endless diversity 
coupled with completest harmony and unity — they 
would no longer aim at perfect uniformity in things 
pertaining to the church, for they would see that no 
such uniformity exists in heaven. They would see that 
perfect agreement in doctrine or ritual (save in two or 
three fundamentals) is neither to be expected nor de- 
sired; that variety everywhere — in the spiritual no less 
than in the natural realm — is the Divine order. And 

ing this, they would allow and encourage the utmost 
freedom of thought and inquiry on religious or doctri- 
nal questions, not deprecating but cordially welcoming 
whatever diversity might result from such freedom. 
Prejudice against new ideas, or against writings said to 
contain them, would evcrvwhere be condemned and 
frowned upon as a hindrance to religious progress. 

Thus would bigotry and intolerance be banished from 
the churches, and in their place w r ould come a grand 
catholicity, broad and beautiful as that in heaven. In- 
stead of antagonistic sects warring against, fretting and 
weakening each other, we should have, out of many 



i ; 6 in-:. 1 1 r EN RE J '/■:. 1 1. i:n. 

and diverse communions, one harmonious and united 
Church ; not one in doctrine, discipline and form of 
external worship, but one in spirit, — one in the real and 
practical acknowledgment of the Lord and his Word, — 
a Church all the more beautiful and perfect, because of 
the endless diversity among its component parts. 

It cannot be denied, therefore, that this doctrine of 
the human form of heaven, is good and wholesome in 
its practical tendency. And what stronger evidence of 
its truth could anyone desire than this? No such 
beneficent results could flow legitimately from a doc- 
trine which is itself false. 4< Of a bramble-bush men do 
not gather grapes," M neither can a corrupt tree bring 
forth good fruit." 



XIV. 
A HEAVEN FOR THE NON-CHRISTIAN WORLD. 

IT will not be denied that, since the memorable year 
1757 — the alleged date of the last General Judgment 
— the human race, especially throughout Christendom, 
has enjoyed a steadily increasing degree of enlighten- 
ment on religious as well as on all other subjects. The 
nev tven has been pressing with continually 

rmenting force upon all minds — pressing in every di- 
:tion like a subtle and elastic atmosphere. And under 
the influence of this pressure, a gradual change in theo- 
ic thought has been going on in the minds of indi- 
viduals and churches. The theology of Swedenborg's 



A Hi 177 

day has le important modifications, and the 

cha • still in pr The th y of the present 

time as it exists in the popular mind (however it may 

remain unaltered id the Cn \ quite different from 

that of the last ttion, Hence it is not uncommon 

to meet with persons nowadays, who disbelieve and re- 

y of the doctrines set forth in the very cre< ds 

y have subscribed And others who still prof 
loyalty to the "standards," are found giving to their 
creed a very different interpretation from that clearly 
intended by its original fram 

This is one of the hopeful signs of our times : — A 
green and tender leaf on the fig-tree, which proclaims a 
spiritual summer nigh. In the fluctuation and modifica- 
tion of religious beliefs which we see going on around 
us, there is abundant cause for joy and hope. It is be- 
cause the fountains of the great deep in men's minds are 
breaking up, and the windows of heaven are opening, 
and increasing light from out the new angelic heavens 
is bursting upon the world, that such things are coming 
to pass. It is, moreover, a verification of what Swe- 
denborg foresaw and predicted more than a century 
ago. 

" In consequence and by means of the Last Judg- 
ment," he says, "the communication between heaven 
and the world, or between the Lord and the church, has 
been restored. 

"The state of the world and of the church before the 
Last Judgment was as evening and night, but after it as 
morning and day. 

"After the Last Judgment was accomplished, there 
was joy in heaven, and such light in the world of spirits 

M 



// V REVEALED. 

as was not there before. . . A similar light also arose in 
n in the world, giving them new enlightenment." — 
titin. L. J. ii, 13, 30. 

Mow, because of the changes in religious thought 

here referred to, it is difficult to say what is the present 
prevailing belief among Christians respecting the con- 
dition of the non-Christian world in the Hereafter. But 
the general belief in Swedenborg's day was, that all the 
heatlu-n (unless converted to Christianity before dying) 
must perish everlastingly. Archbishop Cranmer says: 
11 If we should have heathen parents, and d\c without 
baptism, we should be damned everlastingly." And 
Noel's catechism, regarded as high authority in the 
Church of England, saws : "Without the church [mean- 
ing outside of the church professing the Christian re- 
ligion] there can be nothing but damnation and death." 
This was the declared doctrine also of the Council of 
Trent, was held by the Roman Catholic Church, and 
believed, too, by Luther and Calvin. The latter says: 
"Without her bosom [that is, outside the pale of the 
Christian Church] no remission of sins or salvation is 
to be hoped for." — Ed. Harold Browne's Expn. of 39 4 \rti- 
cleSt p. 44;, X. Y. Ed. 1865. 

Then, if we read attentively the letters from foreign 
missionaries and the reports of Missionary Societies, or 
note the expressions used in prayers and sermons at 
meetings held in aid of the cause of foreign missions, 
we cannot fail to see that the belief is still clung to by 
Protestant Christians, that the myriads in the heathen 
world, unless converted to Christianity, are all doomed 
to hell. Besides, this belief is a strictly logical inference 



7 

from some of the doctrines of the former Christian 
church regarded as fundamental and uch .is 

the doctrine of vicarious atonement, and justification and 

ration by faith alone 

The evidence, therefore, is abundant and undeniable, 
that the genera] and well-nigh universal belief both 
of Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians prior to 
Swedenborg's time, was, that all of the non-Christian 
or Gentil Id who die unconverted to Christianity, 

must inevitably be lost, and forever suffer the torments 
()\ the damned. 

We need not stop to show the unreasonableness and 
cruelty of such a doctrine; nor how it mars the beauty 
of the Divine character, and militates against every right 
conception of God's love and justice. This must be suf- 
ficiently apparent to all. To suppose that God would 
permit hundreds of millions of human beings to be born 
in regions where He knew they would live and die with- 
out any belief in the Gospel of our Lord, or any knowl- 
;c even of the existence of such a Gospel, and that 
He would provide no means for the salvation of these 
innumerable hosts; and, to suppose, further, that they 
are all to be doomed to eternal hell torments for not 
believing doctrines which they never had the opportu- 
nity of learning, were a supposition so extreme in its 
unreasonableness, that we can only wonder it should 
ever have been entertained for a moment by any sane 
people. The belief is too absurd and revolting to merit 
a serious refutation. Talk about Swedenborg's madness ! 
Why, if he had ever taught anything half so absurd and 
monstrous as this old dogma, once so generally accepted 



I So HEAVEN REVEALED. 

among Christians, there would indeed have been good 
>und lor such imputation. 

Let US now hear the New Church doctrine on this 
subject, as revealed through the illumined Swede. And 

if you consider the general darkness of the period in 
which lie lived as compared with our own times, you 
can the more easily judge whether his claim to have 
written under a special Divine illumination, be or be 
not well founded. 

" It is a common opinion that those who are born out 
of the church, who are called Heathen or Gentiles, can- 
not be saved, because the)' have not the Word and are 
therefore ignorant of the Lord, without whom there can 
be no salvation. Nevertheless it may be known that 
they also are saved, from these considerations alone: 
that the mercy of the Lord is universal, that is, extended 
toward even' individual ; that they are born men as well 
as those within the church, who are respectively few; 
and that it is no fault of theirs that they are ignorant 
of the Lord. 

" Every person who thinks from enlightened reason, 
may see that no man is born for hell ; for the Lord is 
love itself, and it is agreeable to his love that all be 
saved. Therefore also lie has provided that all shall 
have some kind of religion, and thereby be in the ac- 
knowledgment of a Divine, and in the enjoyment of 
interior life: for to live according to religion is to live 
interiorly. For then man looks up to a Divine; and 
as far as he looks up to a Divine he does not esteem the 
world, but removes himself from it, consequently from 
the life of the world, which is exterior life. 

n That Gentiles are saved as well as Christians, may 
be known to those who understand what it is that makes 
heaven in man. For heaven is in man ; and those who 
have heaven in themselves enter heaven after death. It 



./ HE // 

is heaven in man to acknowledge a Divine and be 

by 1 1 i in. 

•'It is known that Gentiles live a moral life as i 
as Christians, and that many of them live better than 
Christians. Wen live a moral life either for the sake of 
the Divine, or from a regard to the opinion of the world. 
The moral life which is lived for the sake of tin- Divine 
is spiritual life. Both appear alike in the external form, 
but in the intern il they are altogether different ( I 
saves man; the other dnc> not. For he who lives a 
moral life from a regard to the opinions of the world, 
is led by himself. But let this be illustrated by an ex- 
ample. 

44 I have often been instructed that Gentiles who have 
led a moral life, have lived in obedience and subordina- 
tion, and in mutual charity according to their religion, 
and have thence received something of conscience, are 
accepted in the other life, and are there instructed with 
anxious care by angels in the goods and truths of faith ; 
and that, while under instruction, they behave themselves 
modestly, intelligently and wisely, and willingly receive 
truths and are imbued with them. Besides, they have 
formed to themselves no principles of the false contrary 
to the truths of faith, which are to be shaken off, much 
less scandals against the Lord, — like many Christians 
who cherish no other idea of Him than that of a com- 
mon man." — II. II. n. 318-321. 

"The mercy of the Lord is infinite, and does not suf- 
fer itself to be confined to the small number within the 
church, but extends itself to all throughout the world. 
For those who are born out of the church, and are thereby 
in ignorance as to matters of faith, are not blamable on 
that account ; nor are they ever condemned for not hav- 
ing faith toward the Lord, because they are not aware 
of his existence. What considerate person can suppose 
the greatest part of mankind must perish eternally, be- 
16 



l82 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

they were not born in that quarter of the globe 
denominated Europe, which respectively contains so few? 
Or that the Lord would permit reat a multitude of 

human beings to be brought into existence to perish in 
rnal death? This would be alike contrary to the Di- 
vine nature and to mercy. Besides, those who are out 
of the church and are called (untiles, live a much more 
moral life than those within the church, and far more 
easily embrace the doctrine of a true faith. This is very 
evident from the state of souls in another life; for the 
worst of ail are those who come from the so-called Chris- 
tian world, hearing mortal hatred both against their 
neighbor and the Lord, and being more addicted to adul- 
ter}' than any other people on the face of the earth." — 
A. C. 1032. 

This, remember, comes professedly as a revelation on 
the subject we are considering. And what shall we say 
of it? That it is unreasonable? — senseless? — indicative 
of some strange hallucination on the part of the seer? 
On the contrary, it is so perfectly in accord with the dic- 
tates of reason and common sense, that the rejection of 
it, or even a doubt about its truth, would seem to indi- 
cate a mental condition closely allied to insanity. Since 
God is love, lie can never forsake any portion of the 
children of men. He can never be indifferent to their 
welfare. 1 Ie can never cease his efforts to save and bless 
them. If He should, that moment lie would lose or 
lay aside his most distinguishing attribute: He would 
erase to be Infinite Love. For it is in the very nature 
of this love to be " long-suffering," "plenteous in mercy 
and truth," " not willing that any should perish, but that 
all should come to repentance." And it is in the nature 
of Divine Wisdom to adapt its teachings to mankind in 



ir various >pment and of moral 

at. When, therefore, man perverts the h truths, 

and extinguishes in himself their light and life, then 
truths of a lower order ai n him— truths better 

suited to his lower mu\ perverse state ; and Infinite- Love 

ks to secure his obedience to these. And when, 
through the perversion of these, lie sinks to a still lower 

more external state, then truths of ayet lower degree 
are mercifully vouchsafed him. 

Thus the Lord, in the plenitude of his wisdom and 
love, forever adapts his truth to the states of all finite 
minds. Kvermore does I Ie impart to all his human off- 
spring as much and as pure truth as they are able to re- 
ceive. And when they fall into states to profane the 
highest truths, then these are mercifully taken from them ; 
or what is equivalent, their eyes are veiled, as it were, 
so that they may not see or acknowledge them to be 
truths. As it is written: " He hath blinded their eyes 
and hardened their heart; that they should not see with 
their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be con- 
V< rted, and I should heal them." (John xii. 40.) 

This is as true of nations as it is of individuals. Hence 
no nation has ever been left without a religion of some 
sort, nor without some religious truth. And the form 
which religion takes in any age or country, and the char- 
acter and amount of religious truth which is acknowl- 
edged, will depend on the general state of the people, 
and be suited to their state. And more and higher truth 
will be given them so soon as they are prepared to re- 
ceive it. 

None of the heathen nations, therefore, are left wholly 



I $4 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

destitute of religious truth. With all the errors and ab- 
surdities in the Mahometan and Pagan religions, there 
are to be found many important truths, man)- wholesome 
precepts, many laws of heavenly charity. And all who 
obey these laws from a principle of religion, are thereby 
saved from the evils they forbid. And not only this, 
but fidelity to the little truth they know, prepares them 
for the reception of more and higher truth when they 
enter the other world. A person may be born amid 
such surroundings that he will be brought up in great 
ignorance and even in the belief of great errors, and yet 
be preserved in a state of child-like innocence. And as 
this is a state receptive of wisdom, such person will 
readily receive instruction in the world of spirits, and 
be there fitted for the kingdom of heaven in the way that 
children are. We may thus see how it is possible for 
people in the non-Christian nations, to be finally admit- 
ted into heaven, notwithstanding the many errors they 
imbibed on earth. Indeed they may, on account of their 
greater innocence and simplicity, receive instruction in 
the other world more readily than many Christians. 

u Occasionally," says Swedenborg, " it has been grant- 
ed me to converse with Christians in another life con- 
cerning the state and lot of the Gentiles out of the church, 
that they receive the truths and goods of faith more easily 
than Christians who have not lived according to the 
Lord's precepts ; and that Christians think cruelly con- 
cerning them in supposing that all who are out of the 
church are damned, and this in consequence of a received 
canon, that out of the Lord there is no salvation; and 
that this is true, but that the Gentiles who have lived in 
mutual charity, and have done what is just and equitable 



A //. i 5 

from a kind of conscience, in another life receive Faith 
and acknowledge the Lord more easily than they who 
are within the church and have not lived In such charity; 
also that Christians are in a false principle in sup; 
that they alone have heaven, because they have the 1)- >ok 

of the Word written i>\\ paper but not in their hearts; 

and that they know the Lord, and yet do not beli< 
Him Divine as to his Human, yea, acknowledge Him 

only as a common man as to his other essence which 
they call the human nature; and on this account when 
they are left to themselves and their knowledges, do not 
even adore I lim ; and therefore they are the people who 
are out ol~ the Lord, for whom there is no salvation."—* 
A. C. n. 4190. 

"All the good of charity even among the Gentiles, is 
seed from the Lord ; for although they have not the 
good of faith as those within the Church (where the 
Word is) may have, yet they are nevertheless capable 
of receiving it. Such Gentiles as have lived in charity 
in the world, as they are wont to do, embrace and re- 
ceive the true faith or the faith of charity, much more 
readily than Christians, when they are instructed there- 
in by angels in another life." — Ibid. n. 932. See also n. 
1032, 9256; A. E. n. 1 180; D. P. 330. 

It is as true of Pagan as of Christian nations, that 
they have more truth than they are careful to obey. In 
every nation upon earth men's beliefs are better than 
their practice. The religious code of Pagans as well as 
of Christians is far better than the general character of 
the people. He who walks according to the light- 
vouchsafed him, does all that the Lord requires of him. 
No one can be held accountable for disobeying truth 
of which he is ignorant, especially if his ignorance be 
no fault of his. Therefore a wrong which a man does 
16* 



HEAVEN REVEALED. 

ignorantly, is not a sin. Sin implies a knowledge of 
the law transgressed. It consists in disobedience to 
known and acknowledged truth. If we ignorantly trans- 
gress, we feel very different from what we should if we 
did the same act with a full knowledge at the time that 
we were violating a divine law. Is it reasonable, then, 
that those born in Pagan lands should be forever 
doomed to darkness and woe, because of their non- 
obedience to truth which they never heard of? 

No: God is a Being infinitely wise and just. And 
all that such a Being can require of individuals or na- 
tions, be they Jews, Mahometans, Pagans or Christians, 
is, that the)' live according to the light they have. And 
all who do so live, will finally be received into heaven ; 
for by their religious obedience to the few truths they 
know the\- are prepared to receive more and purer 
truths in the world of spirits. 

Such, briefly, is the doctrine revealed through Swe- 
denborg on this subject; a doctrine that full)' accords 
with our highest conception of the Divine character and 
attributes, as well as with the dictates of reason and 
common sense. 

And not less clearly does the doctrine agree with the 
teachings as well as with the entire spirit of Holy Scrip- 
ture. The Word of God simply requires us to walk 
according to the light that is given. "While ye have 
light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children 
of light," saith the Lord (John xii. 36). And we really 
believe in the light, only when we walk according to it 
(H. HL 351 ; A. C 4239 ; A. R; 67 ; A. E. 346). " Walk 
while ye have the light." Those to whom the light of 



the Gospel has not come, cannot wall it, 

and ,uc not, therefore, to be judged by it For what 
it that brings, or on whom is pronounced, the 

condemnation? The Lord answers: "This is the 
ndemnation, that light is come into the world, and 
men loved darkness rather than light, because their I 

vil." (John iii. 19.) From which it is plain that 
there can be no condemnation where the light has not 
ne; for condemnation consists in a rejection of the 
Kght when offered. Neither is sin imputed to th< 
who err through ignorance; for the Lord further says: 
M If I had not come and spoken unto them, tliey had not 
had sin." (John xv. 22.) And that, in the day of final 
adjudication every one will be held accountable for only 
that measure of truth which has been vouchsafed him, 
is plain from these words of the Lord: "And that ser- 
vant who knew his Lord's will, and prepared not, nei- 
ther did according to his will, shall be beaten with 
many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit 
things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. 
For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much 
be required; and to whom men have committed much, 
of him will they ask the more." (Luke xii. 47, 48.) 
Equally conclusive, too, is the apostle's testimony, and 
clearly teaching the very same doctrine: " Of a truth," 
he says, "I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; 
but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh 
righteousness, is accepted with Him." (Acts x. 34, 35.) 
Which is virtually saying that there are some righteous 
and God-fearing people in every nation, and that all 
such will be saved. 



I 88 ///-'. / / r EN RE l 'BALED, 

And so we find the teaching of the Bible to agree 
with that of Swedenborg on this subject; and the tes- 
timony of both to be in complete accord with the whole 
spirit of the Christian religion as well as with the verdict 
of enlightened reason. 

And not only docs Swedenborg teach that the hea- 
then may be saved, but he says that more of them act- 
ually ate saved than of those who profess the Chris- 
tian religion; and he tells us why. 

11 It is a very common thing with those who have 
conceived an opinion respecting any truth of faith, to 

judge of others that the)' cannot be saved but by believ- 
ing as they i\o y which nevertheless the Lord forbids, 
Matt. vii. I, 2. Accordingly it has been made known 
to me by much experience that persons of every re- 
ligion are saved, if so be, by a life of charity, they have 
received remains of good and of apparent truth. . . The 
life of charity consists in man's thinking well of others, 
and desiring good to others, and perceiving joy in him- 
self at the salvation of others. But the}' have not the 
life of charity, who are not willing that any should be 
saved but such as believe as they themselves do, and 
especial!}' if they are indignant that it should be other- 
wise. This may appear from this single circumstance, 
that more are saved from the Gentiles than from among 
the Christians; for such of the Gentiles as have thought 
well of their neighbor, and lived in good-will to him, 
receive the truths of faith in another life better than 
they who are called Christians, and acknowledge the 
Lord more gladly than Christians do; for nothing is 
more delightful and happy to the angels, than to in- 
struct those who come from earth into another life." — 
A. ( '. n. 2284 ; also, 1059. 

This, we doubt not, will have a strange sound to the 






A HI i | 

ears of many w ho have \ lucated in the old theol- 

] who hear it now for th time. But is it 

not both reasonable and Scriptural? Does it not ac- 
cord with these words of the Lord? "And I say unto 
i that many shall come from th I and west, and 

shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in 
the kingdom of heaven, Bui the children of the king- 
be cast out into the outer darkness." (Matt, 
viii. II, 12. S also Luke xiii 24-31.) By"thechil- 
u of the kingdom " are plainly meant those who 
have the Word, and who imagine (as did the Jews) that, 
for this reason alone, they would be saved in preference 
to those who have it not (as in the case of the Gentile 
and who have not therefore eaten and drunk in the 
Lord's presence, nor heard his voice in their streets. 
And by the " many " who would come from the four 
quarters and find a welcome, while "the children of the 
kingdom " would be thrust into the outer darkness, are 
as plainly meant the Gentiles — the non-Christian peo- 
ples who have not the written Word. 

And not only does Swedenborg teach that fewer are 
saved from among Christians than from among the Gen- 
tiles, but that the worst of all the devils in hell are from 
the Christian nations. "This I can aver," he says, " that 
they who come into the other life from the Christian 
world, are the worst of all, hating their neighbor, hating 
the faith, and denying the Lord ; for in the other life the 
heart speaks, and not the lips merely. Besides, they 
are more given to adultery than the rest of mankind." 
— A. C. 1885 ; also 1032. 

But while the worst of the devils go from Christian 



1 90 HE . I J '/■: N R /■ I '/■: . 1 1 E A 

countries, so likewise do the best of the angels. Those 
from among Christians who go to heaven, rise to a 
higher state than do the good from among Gentil 

while those who are lost sink to a deeper hell. H< 
can it he otherwise ? For Christians, being in p< 

n of the Word, have a greater amount of truth than 
the Gentiles, and truth of a higher order and a purer 
quality. And the higher and purer the truth, the higher 

the state to which those will rise who receive and live 
according to it. The truths of the Christian religion 
are deeper and more heart-searching than those of any 
other religion. Therefore strict obedience to these 
truths must bring the richest reward — must develop the 
highest and noblest life. And on the other hand they 
who know but disobey these truths, commit greater sin 
than those can who are ignorant of them. They sin 
against greater light. They become more wicked; 
therefore they sink to a deeper hell, — are beaten with 
more stripes. This is in accordance with the universal 
law, that the better a thing is, the worse are the conse- 
quences resulting from its abuse. What Swedenborg 
says, therefore, about the worst of the devils being from 
Christian countries, is altogether reasonable. 

His statement on this point, too, is corroborated by 
well-established historical facts. For it is matter of his- 
tory that scenes of the most dismal horror which the 
sun ever shone upon, have been enacted in Christian 
lands ; that the blackest crimes which the page of his- 
tory records, have been perpetrated within the bounds of 
Christendom. ( "an there be any doubt, then, that the very 
worst spirits in the other world, are from Christian lands ? 



HEAVEN FOR GENTIL1 \g\ 

Such is the doctrine revealed thi 
concerning the state of the Heathen in the great Il< 

-very different, we see, from that hitherto believed 
and taught in the Christian church. A doctrine truly 

tholic in its spirit, wholesome in its tendency, bound- 
less as God's love in its embrace, and in compl 
ment with Holy Scripture and enlightened reason. It 
arcs us that the Lord has left none of his intelligent 
creatures without sufficient light, if they follow it, to 
guide them to the realms of bliss. It declares that 
people oi every nation and creed, be they civilized or 
barbarous, may be saved and are saved SO far as they 
live according to the truths they know; and, further- 
more, that the worst of all the devils in hell are from 
Christian countries; and that those who live under the 
noonday light of the Gospel, may be lost and are lost 
if they walk not according to that light. 

Thus the new doctrine affirms this momentous truth — 
a truth often reiterated in the writings of the great seer, 
and which deserves to be engraven indelibly on every 
heart — that entrance into the kingdom of heaven de- 
pends not upon what people know, but upon how they 
live; not upon the character or amount of the truth 
they believe, but upon the motive and measure of their 
obedience to its requirements ; not upon the brilliancy 
of the light that illumines their pathway, but upon their 
fidelity and sincerity in following the light. Therefore 
11 while ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye 
may be the children of light," saith the Lord. And the 
only genuine and saving belief, is that which avails to 
the renovation of the heart and life ; for " with the heart 



1 92 HEA I EN RE I '/■:. I L /■:/). 

man believeth unto righteousness." And Swedenborg 

often says that a genuine belief, or belief in the Lord, 

involves obedience to the Divine precepts, and can have 
no existence without it. To cite a single passage: 

" By believing in the Lord, man has conjunction with 
Him, and by conjunction, salvation. To believe in Him, 
is to have confidence that He will save; and because no 

one can have such confidence but lie who leads a good 
therefore this also is meant by believing in Him." 
— A. R. 67. See also T. C. R. n. 151 ; A. C. 896, 9239; 
A. K. 349. 



XV. 
ARE EARTHLY RELATIONSHIPS COXTIXUED IX 

in-:. 1 1 r ENt 

HAVING ascertained the law that determines all 
associations in the Hereafter, an interesting ques- 
tion arises: Are the ties of natural consanguinity con- 
tinued in heaven ? In other words, Will those who have 
sustained on earth the relation of parents and children, 
brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, dwell together 
(supposing they all become regenerate) in the same an- 
gelic society, and maintain a similar relation toward 
each other in heaven to that they bore on earth? Or 
will these natural relationships cease with the death of 
the body, and new relationships take their place? 

There is something surpassingly beautiful — some- 
thing, indeed, holy — in the ties that bind kindred and 
friends together on earth. Every one recognizes the 



I I I 

mty and sacredn I The links in tli.it 

chain of love formed by the members of a h 
how g ind precious! The ; <>n between broth- 

ers and sisters, how cordial and sincere! The love of 

children for their parent-, how sweet and confiding! 

The love oi parents for their children, how deep and 
tend; Th tion between husband and wife, how 

beautiful and holy ! 

These natural relationships image more faithfully than 
anything else can, the higher and enduring spiritual re- 
lationships which exist in heaven. The relation of the 
children to each other, affords the truest type of the fra- 
ternal relation existing between the members of an an- 
gelic society. The relation of children to their parents 
— their affection for them, their dependence upon them, 
and their obedience to the parents' every wish and word 
— furnishes the best idea of the relation of the angels 
to the Lord, of their affection for, their dependence upon, 
and their obedience to, the Heavenly Father. The rela- 
tion of the parents to the children — their tender love 
and ceaseless care for them, their consideration for their 
weakness, their patience with their faults, and their 
thoughtful provision for all their wants, what a beautiful 
image is this of the relation of the Lord to the angels, 
of his infinite love and ceaseless care for them, and his 
bountiful provision for all their wants ! 

Thus does a loving, well-ordered and happy family 
furnish the truest picture of heaven, of anything known 
on earth. Such a family is itself a heaven in miniature. 
Accordingly we find that, in the written Word (which, in 
its true sense, treats altogether of spiritual things) the 
17 N 



//. / REVEALED. 

which arc employed in all languages to express 

the most intimate and tender earthly relationships, are 

d to express the relationships existing in heaven, and 

among heavenly-minded people on earth. Thus God, in 

pect to the inmost, paternal, heaven-begetting prin- 
ciple of his nature - I )ivine Love — is called the I leavenly 
Father, And in his relation to the church, or to those 
whose hearts have become wedded to Him by love and 
obedience, I Ie is called Bridegroom and I [usband. And 
those thus wedded (which is the case with all who have 
in themselves the heavenly marriage of good and truth) 
are called Mother, Wife and Bride. And the angels and 
regenerate men — all who are born of this heavenly Fa- 
ther and Mother, that is, born again, " born from above" 
— are called children. They are God's children, begotten 
of Him in liis own image and likeness; and viewed in 
their relation to each other, they are brethren, and are 
so called in Scripture. Thus Jesus says to his disciples: 
44 One is your Father — God; and all ye are brethren." 

I [ere, as in other passages of Scripture, we are taught 
that there are spiritual relationships to which the natural 
correspond, and of which they are the representative 
image. And as spiritual things are superior to the 
natural whereby they are shadowed forth, — the spiritual 

ise of the Word superior to the natural sense, — the 
spiritual world superior to the natural world, — the soul 
or spirit of man superior to the body, — therefore spiritual 
relationships are, and must needs be, superior to the 
natural. They are more interior, more enduring, more 
perfect and blissful. 

Now, when the natural body dies, man passes (in a 



Cl THl V RELATIONSHIP 

spiritual body) out of I tl, and 

into the spiritual realm, He leaves behind him all 

natural thing . what is equivalent he passes in( 

'in where these th t no 1 n or thought 

o£ He leaves the natural body; but straightway finds 
himself in the enjoym superior faculties b 

i superior kind of body, which has always been within 
the natural — a body that IS spiritual ami substantial, 
lie leaves the natural world; but immediately enters, or 
lias opened up to his consciousness/ another world in 

which all things arc more real ami substantial, but spir- 
itual in their nature. He leaves the natural or literal 
sense of the Scripture, that is, he no longer sees or thinks 
of this sense ; but he conies into the perception and un- 
derstanding of a vastly higher and more important sense, 
viz., the spiritual. He leaves the natural memory, that 
is, the memory of merely natural facts, — or, what is the 
same, this memory becomes quiescent; but a new, more 
interior and enduring memory is then developed, viz., 
the spiritual. 

Now the logical inference from all this is, that natural 
relationships terminate when the body dies, and new and 
higher relationships are then established ; and that these 
new relationships rest upon higher or more interior 
ground, and are determined by people's spiritual resem- 
blance or proximity to each other. The members of the 
same family on earth are said to be closely related ; and 
the\- are so naturally. But this is simply a flesh and 
blood relationship — often nothing more ; and as such, 
we should expect it to cease when the body dies. For 
members of the same family are often quite different in 



196 heaven revealed. 

character. Some arc passionate and others calm, some 
bright and others dull, some deceitful and others frank 
— born, too, of the same parents, and subjected to the 
same nurture and discipline. Naturally, therefore, they 
are as near akin as they can be, and in their faces they 
may resemble each other. But spiritually viewed, there 
is little or no resemblance between them ; they are wholly 
unlike, and have no moral or spiritual affinity. And in 
view of the law that governs in every association of 
spirits, it is plain that they would have no desire to dwell 
together in the spiritual world. Their spheres would be 
mutually repulsive, and their society mutually disagree- 
able. 

The conclusion, therefore, seems irresistible, that the 
natural relationships of this world will not be continued 
in the world beyond; but that new relationships based 
upon interior and spiritual resemblances, will be estab- 
lished there. The legitimate deductions of reason bring 
US to this conclusion. Now let us see how far Sweden- 
borg's disclosures accord with these deductions. 

u Consociations in the other life arc comparative!}' like 
relationships on earth, in that there is an acknowledg- 
ment as of parents, children, brethren, kinsfolk and con- 
nections; according to such differences is their love. 
The differences are indefinite, and the communicative 
perceptions so exquisite as to admit of no description, 
— no respect whatever being had to parents, children, 
kinsfolk, and connections on earth, nor to any personal 
considerations of quality or character, consequently not 
to dignities, riches, and the like, but only to the differ- 
ences of mutual love and faith, the faculty of receiving 
which each had obtained from the Lord during his abode 
in the world.' —A. C. n. 685. 



"That the truths of the church are called brethren, is 
manifest from this, that the sons of Jacob re] 
the truths of the church in the complex. That in ai 
tinu-s they v died brethren from spiritual affinity, 

is because the new birth or regeneration made consan- 
guinities and affinities in a degree superior to the natural 
birth; and because the former derive their origin from 
Father, namely, from the Lord. Hence it is, that 
men after death who come into heaven, do not any Ion 
acknowledge any brother, nor even mother or father, ex- 
cept from good and truth ; according to these they enter 
there into new fraternities or brotherhoods. Hence it 

that they who were of the church called each other 
brethren."— A. C. n. 675 8. 

"That in the spiritual world or heaven, there are no 
other consanguinities and affinities, except of love to the 
Lord and neighborly love, or, what is the same thing, of 

od, was made manifest to me from this consideration: 
that all the societies which constitute heaven and which 
are innumerable, are most distinct from each other, ac- 
cording to the degrees and differences of love and of 
faith thence derived; also from this circumstance, that 
they mutually know each other, not from any affinity 
which had existed in the life of the body, but solely from 
a principle of good and truth thence derived. A father 
does not know a son or a daughter, nor a brother a 
brother or sister, nor indeed a husband a wife, unless 
they have been principled in like good. They meet, in- 
deed, on their first coming into another life, but they are 
soon dissociated, inasmuch as essential good, or love and 
charity, determines every one to his particular society 
and enrolls him in it. In the society in which every one 
is enrolled, consanguinity commences ; and thence pro- 
ceed affinities even to the circumferential parts." — Ibid. 
n. 3815. 

11 In another life, all are consociated according to affec- 
17* 



198 heaven revealed. 

tions, and they who are consociated constitute a brother- 
hood ; not that they call themselves brethren, but that 
they are brethren by conjunction. Essential good and 
truth in another life make what is called on earth con- 
sanguinity and relationship; wherefore they correspond. 
For goods and truths considered in themselves do not 
acknowledge any other father but the Lord, for they are 
from Him alone. Hence all are in brotherhood who are 
in goods and truths. Nevertheless there are degrees ac- 
cording to the quality of goods and truths. These de- 
grees are signified in the Word by brethren, sisters, sons- 
in-law, daughters-in-law, grandsons, granddaughters, and 
by several names of families. On earth, however, they 
are so named in respect to common parents, however 
they differ in affections ; but in another life such brother- 
hood and relationship is dissipated, and they all come 
into other brotherhoods, unless on earth they have been 
in similar good. At first, indeed, they generally meet, 
but in a short time are disjoined; for gain in that life 
does not consociate, but, as was said, affection, the quality 
of which then appears as in clear day." — A. C. n. 41 21. 

Here as elsewhere it will be seen that Swedenborg is 
perfectly consistent. And his revealings accord, too, 
with the verdict of enlightened reason and sound phi- 
losophy. Had he told anything essentially different, its 
want of agreement with his other teachings, as well as 
with reason and philosophy, would have been at once 
apparent. It also would have lacked — what it now 
clearly has — the undeniable support of Scripture. For 
the Bible tells of other and higher relationships than 
those of flesh and blood. It declares that before a man 
can enter the kingdom of heaven, he must be born again 
— " not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the 
will of man, but of God " — thus clearly teaching us that 



CESSATION 01 .'/// V RELA 

there is a higher and nobler kind of birth than thai into 

the realm oi' nature. The first birth is natural, th 

oiul is spiritual. "Howbeit," says the apostle, " that 

was nol first which is spiritual, but that which is natu- 
ral ; and afterward that which is spiritual." (I Cor. \\\ 

That which is first in the order of importance, is al- 
ways last in the order of time. The fruit conies after 
and never before the flower. The development o( the 
heavenly is always subsequent to that of the earthly or 
corporeal life. The angel is formed out of, and there- 
fore subsequent to, the man. Consequently those rela- 
tionships which are spiritual in their nature, or which 
result from regeneration, must be superior to those re- 
sulting from natural generation. They must be akin to 
the relationships existing in heaven. Accordingly the 
Lord desires that we shall all become his children — 
children of the Heavenly Father — his spiritual children, 
of course. And He tells us how we can become such, 
or what we must do ; and among other things, that we 
must be willing, if need be, to sunder the ties of natural 
kindred, — be willing to forsake father, mother, brothers, 
sisters, wife, children, and whatsoever is dearest to the 
natural man, for his sake. He counsels his disciples to 
call no man their father upon earth; adding: "for One 
is your Father which is in heaven; and all ye are breth- 
ren." And at another time, " stretching forth his hand 
toward his disciples, He said: Behold my mother and 
my brethren ! For whosoever shall do the will of my 
Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and 
sister and mother." (Matt. xii. 49, 50.) 



200 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

Who cannot see that in all such passages it is a spir- 
itual relationship to which our Lord refers? — a relation- 
ship resulting from the new spiritual birth, and grounded 
in spiritual faith and love? Such is the only kind of 
relationship (and this should be conclusive of the whole 
question) which lie ever recognizes as belonging to his 
kingdom in the heavens. And what other relationship 
should we expect — what other, indeed, can there be — 
in a kingdom that is purely spiritual? 



XVI. 

MEETING AND RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS IN 
Till- HEREAFTER. 

IN view of what has been said in the foregoing chap- 
ter, questions like the following will naturally arise: 
Shall we not, then, meet our earthly friends in the 
spiritual world? Shall we not recognize them and be 
recognized by them in return ? Will not the mother 
meet her darling child, and know and love it as her 
own ? Will not husbands and wives, brothers and 
sisters, meet there in tender and loving embrace, and 
remember and renew the relation they sustained in the 
natural world? Is not the desire for such reunions in 
the Hereafter, among the implanted instincts of our na- 
ture ? And in seasons of sore bereavement do we not 
derive support and solace from the belief that this natu- 
ral and deep desire of our hearts will be granted? 

Most assuredly. And there is no reason to doubt 



201 

that it will be granted. Every implanted instinct of 
our nature will have its demands satisfied in the spirit- 
ual world. Every one will, th •, be permitted to 

and recognize the friends he has known and lo\ 
on earth, and to remain in their company so long as 
may be mutually agreeable. Bui such meeting and mu- 
tual recognition in the Hereafter, take place in the in- 
termediate stale or world of spirits, where all souls 
immediately after the death of the body. This is neither 
heaven nor hell, but a realm or state between the tv 
like the world in which we are now living, and having 
communication with both. This is the realm or state 
in which they find themselves immediately after leaving 
the body, for bodily death effects no change whatever 
in the character. They are, when they first awake to 
consciousness, in a state precisely similar to that in 
which they were before death. The same external 
thoughts or affections; the same natural or external 
memory, the same natural desires and feelings are still 
alive and active. Hence the reason why everything on 
a person's entrance into the other world, appears there 
precisely as it did here ; for in that w r orld everything 
without corresponds to the individual's own state — to 
the thoughts and feelings within him. So long, there- 
fore, as he continues in the same external state in which 
he was before death, will he see around him objects 
similar to those by which he was surrounded on earth, 
— so similar, indeed, that it is often hard for a person 
to be quickly convinced that he has actually passed 
through the gate of death. And he will have precisely 
the same face as before; for the face in the other world 



202 HEAVEN l//-J\ 

corresponds to the mental state, or to the thoughts and 

affections that are present and active. 

It is in the world of spirits, therefore, where all are 

in the same mental state in which they were when on 
earth, and therefore look just the same, that friends and 
natural relatives meet and converse, and share each 
other's society so long as their intercourse proves mu- 
tually agreeable. If some have died many years before, 
and gone to their fined home, either in the upper or the 
nether realms according as their real character may 
have been heavenly or infernal, they are, through the 
Divine mercy, temporarily remitted into the world of 
spirits; that is, they are brought into the same state of 
exterior memory, thought and affection in which they 
were when in the flesh; consequent!}' their faces appear 
just the same as they did in this world. In this state 
of their exteriors it may be mutually agreeable to re- 
main in each other's company for a considerable time. 
But if they are spiritually and internally unlike, the dis- 
similarity will shortly reveal itself, and they will not 
long be happy in each other's society. As the interiors 
of each become more and more manifest to the other, 
they will feel a mutual repulsion, and will desire to sep- 
arate. And when they shall have come fully into the 
state of their interiors, the quality of which determines 
the kind of society they are fitted for, then whatever 
disagrees with their ruling loves is removed from their 
exteriors; their external memory which enabled them 
when on earth to recall their relationship and all be- 
longing to it, becomes closed or quiescent; and their 
faces take on an expression corresponding to the char- 



THE HEREAFTi 203 

acter of their in And when their int< 1 

ful: 1 >pen, if their chai are different, 

they will not only be disinclined to remain t x, but 

will appear as strangers to each other. Their natural 
memory being lost or closed, they will no 1 

mber their former friendship or relationship; nay, 
they will n^[ know that they have ever seen each other 
before, though they may have dwelt for years beneath 
the same roof, and sustained the most intimate of earth- 
ly relations. Their faces, too, will appear unfamiliar, 
being no longer such as they had been in the world, but 
so changed as to be the images of their ruling loves. 

In the intermediate state or world of spirits, therefore, 
where all, being still in externals, appear as they did on 
earth, friends and natural relatives meet and recognize 
each other, and remain together as long as they desire. 
But when their natural memory and affections have 
faded or become quiescent, and they have entered into 
the state of their interiors, then natural relatives cease 
to be remembered or thought of; and if their charac- 
ters are essentially unlike, they will no longer desire to 
remain together, having no affinity for each other. 

" Those who have friends and acquaintances in the 
life of the body, all meet and converse together in the 
world of spirits, when they desire it; especially wives 
and husbands, and also brothers and sisters. I have seen 
a father conversing with six sons whom he recognized ; 
and many others conversing with their relations and 
friends; but as their characters were dissimilar in con- 
sequence of their life in the world, after a short time 
they separated. But they who pass from the world o( 
spirits into heaven or hell, afterwards see each other no 



204 HE A I '1: X RE i '/■- . i L £ J). 

more, nor do they know anything about each other, 
unless they are of similar disposition from similar lov 
They ch other in the world of spirits, and not in 

h iven nor in hell, because they who are in the world 
of spirits are brought into states similar to those which 
the>- had experienced in the life of the body, being led 
from one into another; but afterwards, all are brought 
into a permanent state similar to that of their ruling 
love; and in that state one knows another only from 
similitude of love; for similitude conjoins, and dissim- 
ilitude separates/ 1 — II. II. n. 427; see also A. R. 153. 

In accordance with what is here taught is the follow- 
ing, which tells us why those who have been closely 
related on earth, will ultimately be as strangers to each 
other in the world beyond, if there be no internal like- 
ness — no spiritual relationship between them. 

" When the spirit of man first enters the world of 
spirits, which takes place shortly after his resuscitation, 

he has a similar face and similar tone of voice to what 
he had in the world, because he is then in the state of 
his exteriors, and his interiors are not yet disclosed. 
This is the first state of man after death. But afterwards 
his face is changed and becomes entirely different, as- 
suming the likeness of his ruling affection or love in 
lich the interiors of his mind were in the world, and 
in which his spirit was in the body. ... I have seen some 
spirits shortly after their arrival from the world, and knew 
them by their face and speech ; but when I saw them 
afterwards, I did not know them. They who were prin- 
cipled in good affections appeared with beautiful laces, 
but they who were principled in evil affections, with faces 
deformed; for the spirit of man, viewed in itself, is noth- 
ing but his affection whereof the face is the external 
form. The reason also why the face is changed, is be- 
cause in the other life no one is allowed to counterfeit 



affections which ai properly hi 

quently, to put ^n looks which mtrary to hi 

love. All in the spiritual world, therefore, whoever tl 
may be, are brought into such a peak .is ti 

think, and to express by their faces and the in- 

clinations of their will. Hence ti f all b 

the forms and ima their a ns. And h 

■ all who have kn< >wn each other in the world, kn 
:h other also in the world of spirits, but not in In a. 
nor in hell." — 1 1. 1 1, n. 457. 

It must not be inferred, however, from what has I, 
1, that natural relationships are necessarily incom- 
patible with spiritual; or that those who have hern 
closely related on earth, cannot also be internally re- 
lated, and so dwell together forever. On the contrary, 
we are taught that those who have been near and dear 
to each other in the flesh — members of the same family 
on earth — may, if they become regenerated, become 
Still nearer and dearer to each other in heaven, and for- 
•r dwell together in the same angelic society. We 
are taught that marriages may take place in this world 
upon a deep spiritual ground — that is, between parties 
who are the spiritual complements of each other. Where 
this is the case, the union is a truly conjugial one — is at 
once both spiritual and natural. And because it is a 
union of souls as well as of bodies, therefore the death 
of the body will not dissolve it. They will remain uni- 
ted forever, being the complements of each other. And 
their union in heaven will be more full and complete, 
I attended with delights as far superior to those that 
accompany marriage here below, as heaven is superior 
to earth or angels superior to men. This, however, 
18 



206 HEA I EN RE J EA L ED. 

only when there is a union of souls between the parties. 
If the union is merely external, and the two have no 
spiritual affinity, it will not be renewed or continued in 
the I Iereafter. 

The same remarks are applicable to other earthly re- 
lationships. The)' may be, and sometimes are, continued 
in heaven, with their pleasures refined, their joys exalted, 
and their delights immensely increased. This, too, is 
what the great seer teaches. 

4< Certain souls," he says, " who were with me [on one 
occasion], were let into a state of innocence, from which 
they conversed with me through spirits ; and they con- 
fessed that it was a state of such joy and gladness that 
the human understanding could form no conception of 
it, for it was their very inmosts which were affected. . . 
The)' were with those who had been their parents, grand- 
parents, and ancestors, that is, with their entire family 
for two centuries back. They were admitted together 
with them into that heaven, and their joy was such as 
cannot possibly be described." — Spl. D. 832, '4. 

Such is Swcdenborg's teaching concerning the meet- 
ing and recognition of friends in the Hereafter, and the 
continuance or cessation of natural relationships. Docs 
it sound like the ravings of a madman or the utterances 
of a fanatic? Stretch your imagination to the utmost, 
and see if you can conceive of any different view that 
is at once so rational, philosophical, and scriptural as 
this. 

The doctrine here disclosed is one that fully meets 
the demands of our reason as well as of our God-im- 
planted desires and instincts. It satisfies the cravings 
of even the strongest natural affection. It permits the 



W the hi:: 

ir husfa i indulge the fond hope of 

ting in the Hereafter th ved companion 

►re. It gives to all who are bound by the ties of 

natural C aity, the comfort!:' aice that 

when death snatches from their embrace son irly 

loved one — a parent, child, brother, sister, husband, or 

wife — the separation will be but for a h ; — that they 

may confidently rely on a blissful reunion in the spiritual 
realm. What solace there is in such assurance! What 
balm to bereaved affection! What support in seasons 
of dee; rrow ! 

And while the doctrine deals so tenderly with the 
natural affections, while it ministers all the comfort 
which the heart is capable of receiving in times of sore 
bereavement, it at the same time discloses a more ex- 
alted and heavenly state of affection than the natural, 
and a higher and holier relationship than that between 
members of the same family on earth. It teaches that 
the truest and holiest brotherhood, that of which the 
natural is but a faint image, exists between those who 
have been " born from above" — " born of the Spirit" — 
and have become children of the Heavenly Father. It 
teaches that natural relationships cease in the spiritual 
realm, and are succeeded by higher and holier relation- 
ships ; that natural kindred, when they come fully into 
the state of their interiors, will (if they are spiritually 
far asunder) no longer see or know each other, and will 
lose all remembrance of their earthly relationship. It 
thus furnishes a rational and philosophical solution of a 
problem that has hitherto embarrassed theologians, and 
been a trouble to many pious minds. For it shows us that 



208 



HEAVEN REVEALED. 



those who enter heaven will never have their peace dis- 
turbed by the harrowing thought that some of their near 
kindred in the flesh are in the nether realms; for al- 
though this may be true, they will know nothing of it, 
having no recollection of their natural kindred. And 
if their states are very unlike, they would not recognize 
them should they see them. Their voices would sound 
unfamiliar, and their faces would be as the faces of 
strangers. Though kindred in the flesh, they are kin- 
dred no longer; for the flesh and all its belongings have 
been laid aside. 

Thus does the spiritual in all things transcend the 
natural. Thus do the tenderest earthly relationships, 
having fulfilled their appointed use on earth, fade and 
die out from the memory and the affections in the great 
Hereafter; and in their stead spring up those higher 
and nobler spiritual relationships, determined not by the 
accident of natural birth, but by the new birth from 
Above, and the consequent proximity or likeness to the 
] leavenly Father. 

Such is the doctrine as revealed for the New Church 
on this subject. While it accords with the spirit of holy 
Scripture and with all we know of the Divine character 
and attributes, it agrees also with the highest spiritual 
philosophy, and satisfies the sternest demands of the 
understanding and the intensest longings of the heart. 



PERSONAL APPEARAND THE ANGELS. 

XVII. 
70NAL APPEARANCE OF THE ANGELS. 

WIIKN a traveler \n a foreign land writes an ac- 
count of his travels, he is expected to describe 
the persona] appearance of the people he visits, as well 
their character, manners and customs. Without such 
description his narrative would be incomplete and un- 
ictory. So natural, indeed, is it for people to in- 
quire about the personal appearance of those whom they 
know only from the lips or pen of another, that a novelist 
would never think of dismissing one of his heroes with- 
out gratifying his readers on this point. If he should, 
they would be disappointed, and would not fail to note 
the omission as a conspicuous defect in the story. 

Now, Swedenborg professes to have enjoyed open in- 
tercourse with the denizens of the spiritual world for a 
period of nearly thirty years. He claims to have daily 
seen and conversed with both angels and devils during 
this long period. If this is true, we should expect him 
to say something about the personal appearance of the 
people he saw there — to tell us how they look, whether 
beautiful or ugly. And this he has not failed to do. He 
says that the inhabitants of heaven are all in the human 
form, and beautiful beyond the power of language to de- 
scribe. And he has told us why they are so beautiful. 
Their figures and faces, he says, are the very images of 
the spirit that animates and moulds them. They are the 
correspondential forms of their elevated thoughts, sweet 

affections and noble purposes. For Mind is the con- 
18- O 



2 1 o ///•;. / / 7-X RE I r EA L J.J\ 

troling power throughout the universe; and so entire 
and absolute is its sway in the spiritual world, that the 
minds of all, both in heaven and in hell, mould their 
bodies into forms exactly correspondent to their essentia] 

nature. The face of every one there, is the image of the 

spirit within him. The appearance of the outer proclaims 
with undeviating certainty the character of the inner 
man ; for there the body and the soul are in such perfect 
correspondence that the former is the exact image of the 
latter. We will cite the seer's own language on this sub- 
ject : 

"The human form of every man after deatli is the 
more beautiful, the more interiorly he had loved divine 
truths and lived according to them ; for the interiors of 
every one arc opened and formed according to his love 
and life ; wherefore the more interior is the affection, the 
more conformable it is to heaven, and hence the more 
beautiful is the face. . . . All perfection increases toward 
the interiors, and decreases toward the exteriors; and 
as perfection increases and decreases, so likewise does 
beaut\'. I have seen the faces of angels of the third 
heaven, which were so beautiful that no painter, with all 
his art, could ever impart to colors such animation as to 
equal a thousandth part of the brightness and life which 
appeared in their faces." — II. H. n. 459. 

44 Beauty derived only from the truth of faith, is like 
the beauty of a painted or sculptured face; but the 
beauty derived from the affection of truth which is from 
good, is like the beauty of a living face animated by 
celestial love ; for such as is the quality of the love, or 
of the affection beaming from the form of the face, such 
is the beaut}-. I fence it is that the angels appear of in- 
effable beauty. From their faces beams forth the good 
of love by the truth of faith, which not only appears 



/ S. 2 I I 

fore the sight, but is also perceived by the sphei 
• derived. The reason why this is the source and 
origin of beauty is, that the universal heaven is a Grand 
Man, and iponds to all even the most minute thin 

appertaining t^man. He, therefore, who is principled 
in the good of love and thence in the truth of faith, is m 
the form of heaven, consequently in the beauty in which 

iven is, where the Divine of the Lord is all in all. 
Hence also it is, that those who are in hell, since they 
are contrary to good and truth, are in horrible deformity, 
and in the light o\ heaven they appear not as men but 
as monsters." — A. C. n. 5199. 

11 The understanding of man is nothing else but the 

will unfolded and formed, so that its quality may 
appear visibly. I Icnce it is evident whence beauty is, 

, of the interior man, that it is from the good of the 
will by the truth of faith. The truth of faith itself pre- 
sents beauty in the external form, but the good of the 
will sets it in and forms it. Hence it is that the angels 
of heaven are of ineffable beauty, for they are as it were 
loves and charities in form ; wherefore when they appear 
in their beauty, they affect the inmost principles. With 
them the good of love from the Lord shines forth through 
the truth of faith, and as it penetrates it affects." — Ibid. 
n. 49S5 ; also n. 3212. 

" When the angels present themselves visible, all their 
interior affections appear clearly from the face, and thence 
shine forth, so that the, face is their external form and 
representative image. To have any other face than that 
of their respective affections, is not allowed to any in 
heaven. They who feign any other face, are cast out 
from the society. Hence it is manifest that the face cor- 
responds to all the interiors in general, both to the affec- 
tions and the thoughts thereof, or to those things which 
are of the will and understanding with man. Hence 
also in the Word by face and faces are signified the af- 
fections." — Ibid. n. 4796. 



2 I 2 HEA J EN RE I '/■:. 1 1- ED. 

u Evil spirits may also be known from their faces, for 
all their lusts or evil affections are inscribed on their 
. and it may likewise be known from their faces 
with what hells they communicate ; for there are very 
many hells all distinct according to the genera and species 
of the lusts of evil. In general their faces, when seen in 
the light of heaven, are almost without life, being ghastly 
like those of dead bodies, in some cases black, and in 
-nine monstrous ; for they are the forms of hatred, cruelty, 
deceit and hypocrisy; but in their own light among 
themselves, the)- appear otherwise from fantasy." — A. C. 
n. 4798. 

Many more passages similar to these might be cited ; 
and however the phraseology or form of expression may 
vary, their substance will be found invariably the same. 

And here, as on other subjects, the seer's assertions 
address themselves to our rational intuitions, and meet 
with a ready response from every enlightened and un- 
prejudiced mind. For every one sees that, if the char- 
acter of the angels is as pure and exalted as he tells us 
it is, their personal appearance cannot be other than he 
has so often described it. If their interiors are purer, 
their souls more beautiful, than those of men — if they 
are wiser, nobler, more loving and unselfish, then we 
should expect them to be more beautiful in form and 
aspect. This is so reasonable that a child sees the utter 
absurdity of any doctrine essentially different. For a 
child sees that it is impossible for such exalted human 
excellence as that to which the angels have attained, to 
exist under hideous and repulsive forms; and it has an 
equally clear and instinctive perception that these latter 
are the appropriate forms of wicked spirits or demons. 



\RANCR OF THE ANG1 I v 2IJ 

rc phy tsto som 

out kn ; it ; for every one forms some idea of tl 

ch.i of others from the features and expression of 

And the idea they form would seldom fail 
of 1 it not that people often ad the 

hypocrite, and make their laces lie as th their lips 

and actions. 

And what is thought to constitute the most exal 

human beauty here on earth? What sort of a face do 

people of high culture and a truly Christian spirit com- 
monly regard as most beautiful ? Is it not that combi- 
nation of features and that expression which reveals the 
most and the highest order of mind? — that which ex- 
presses the noblest qualities of heart in union the most 
exalted powers of intellect? — that which seems in the 
highest degree instinct with the divine attributes of wis- 
dom and love ? To a cultivated mind that face, and that 
only, is beautiful, which reveals a beautiful soul ; and it is 
beautiful just in the degree that it expresses the thoughts, 
feelings, aspirations and hopes of such a soul. A per- 
son's face speaks as plainly as his lips, and often more 
truthfully. For many a time does the face reveal thoughts 
and feelings which the lips vainly strive to conceal. The 
looks often contradict the words. And if the graces of 
heaven — humility, meekness, resignation, courage, be- 
nevolence, gratitude, hope, love, trust — really dwell in 
the heart, they will to some extent reveal themselves in 
the countenance even in this world. And those who 
have any just appreciation of the spirit of true religion, 
will call that countenance most beautiful which expresses 
the largest measure of these heavenly graces. 



1 1 



WEN REVl I l.h Ik 



\\ is the quality of the spiritual and invisible part, then 
— the peculiar characteristics of mind and heart which 
the fac that makes all the difference among 

pic on earth in respect to beauty. And among culti- 
vated Christian people that face will always be thought 
most beautiful, which expresses most of the higher and 
nobler qualities of humanity. There is no beauty in the 
human countenance apart from the mental beauty — the 
lofty thoughts, the sweet affections, the tender sympathies, 
the noble purpose which it reveals. This is confessed 
byall the great masters in literature. Thus Milton says 
of Adam and Eve while in their primitive innoeence: 

" For in their ]<><,ks divine 

The in, ige <>l their glorious Maker shone, 
Truth, wisdom, sanctitud eand pure." 

And Spenser, with the insight of a true poet, and clearly 
recognizing the influence of the soul upon the body even 
to the extent disclosed in Swedenborg's pneumatology^ 



sings 



Every spirit, as it is most pure, 



And hath in it the more of heavenly Light, 

■ it the fairer body doth procure 

'1'.. lial.it in : 

FoT of the soul the body form doth take, 
1' >r soul is form and doth the body male 

And in a like strain sing Addison and Young, Shak- 
speare and Goethe, Byron and Coleridge, and all the 
great masters in this art. 

Every one knows, too, that a good artist is able to ex- 
press all the passions and emotions of the heart in the 
faces of the figures he paints or carves: and can express 
them with such precision that people of some discern- 



ment will rc.nl them the moment they look at the picture 
or Ask any dist ilptor to embody in 

n well-defined mental or moral qualities, and 
he will do it with 

of human nature will read in that bust the veryqualit 

isily as if th c print 

in a impossible but for the ind- 

ent , between th ind the pa mo- 

tions of the heart ; — a spondence 

that where no willful deception is pi the 

mer may be taken as the of the 

latter. 

Then look at the faces of little children— those young 
immortals so guileless and innocent, so late from their 
Maker's hand, with the impress of heaven so fresh upon 
them — and how legibly can you see recorded there the 
feelings of their hearts! How unmistakably do their 
laughing faces tell of the exuberant life, the overflowing 
joy and gladness within their little bosoms ! And when 
they experience disappointment, sorrow, vexation or 
shame, how faithfully are these emotions imprinted on 
their faces, and how quickly, too ! And the same is true 
of adults in the degree that they have retained the inno- 
cence and simplicity of childhood, or become as little 
children by regeneration. When joy and gladness fill 
their hearts, their faces-are sure to reveal the fact. The 
sunshine within streams out from their eyes, and sheds 
its radiance over the whole countenance. Again, when 
sorrow comes, when cares oppress and fears disturb and 
gloomy thoughts becloud the soul, their faces proclaim 
this inward change as clearly as the moving shadow on 



2l6 HEAVEN REVEALl 

the land proclaims the floating cloud between it 

and the sun. This, indeed, is true try one to some 

extent. It is only with those who have lost the sim- 
plicity of childhood, and learned to practice the arts of 
deception! that the face c a true index of the 

mind; — fails to reveal by its changes the sunshine or 
gloom, the joy Or sorrow, the peace or unrest that exists 
within. 

An<A not only docs the face reveal the transitory feel- 
ings, the changes of mental state, as from joy to sorrow, 
but it registers with fidelity those states which have be- 
come fixed and abiding. Let a person harbor for any 
considerable time melancholy thoughts and dark fore- 
bodings ; let him indulge in poignant grief, in anxious 
fears or bitter repinings; let him encourage by indul- 
gence the growth of an inordinate love of the world, a 
mean and miserly spirit, or a sour and misanthropic 
temper, and how surely will this confirmed habit of his 
soul imprint itself upon his countenance! Or let him, 
on the other hand, exercise the spirit of self-denial, let 
him repose calmly and trustingly on the Divine Provi- 
dence, let him cultivate a cheerful and resigned disposi- 
tion, cherish noble and unselfish aims, exercise himself 
habitually in kind and philanthropic deeds, and thus open 
his soul more and more to the influx of the Lord's un- 
selfish love; and let this be continued for a series of 
years, and the heavenly quality of his inner man will be 
legibly inscribed upon his countenance. You will see 
the angel shining through. The light of heaven will 
sparkle in his eye, and the warmth of heaven will tinge 
his cheek with a lustre all its own ; and this, too, in 






XL A} W] 

spite of the wrinkles that usually ipany declinii 

There is, then, abundant evidence right around us 
the truth of what Swed< n ls to the nal 

appearance of people in the other v. md of the great 

law that determines it we all know that there i 

strong and continual tendency in whatever p n or 
principle is allowed to govern a man, to mould the coun- 
tenance into a form i pondent with itself We kn 
that heavenly love de in the heart, h; r a 
tendency to light up the countenance with a heavenly 
radiance. And we know, too, that the tendency of all 
internal princip! equally strong in this respect. All 
evil feelings long indulged, all sad and sickening thoughts, 
all dark and gloomy views of God, religion and human 
life, are perpetually operating, so long as they are enter- 
tained, to shape the outward corporeal part into complete 
correspondence with themselves; — perpetually working 
to divest the visage of its properly human expression, 
and imprint thereon the deformity of hell. If it is true 
that "a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine," it is 
equally true that a wicked heart will in time mould the 
countenance into an exact image of its wickedness. 

It is certain, then — nothing, indeed, can be more so — 
that the human countenance was intended by the Creator 
to be the perfect image of the heart's affections. The 
face was plainly meant to be the mirror of the soul. 
And the nearer men approach to the innocence and sim- 
plicity of childhood, and the less disguises they wear, 
the less occasion do they have for concealment, and the 
more truly do their faces as well as their words express 
19 



2l8 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

the thoughts and feelings of their hearts. How, then, 
should we expect it would be in heaven where innocence, 
simplicity, purity and love reign triumphant ? — where all 
are willing to be seen in the light, and no one desires to 

express by his looks a single emotion that he does not 
f< i? Should not the faces of the angels express with 
mathematical exactness the unselfish love that dwells 
within their bosoms? And if so, how surpassingly 
beautiful must they be ! How easy to believe, therefore, 
what Swedenborg so often declares, that their beaut}' is 
beyond the power of art to picture or of human language 
to describe ! Otherwise there would not be a perfect cor- 
respondence between their internals and externals, and 
the face in heaven would not be the mirror of the soul. 
The face, then, being intended by the Creator to faith- 
fully express the feelings and dispositions of the heart, 
corresponds to the interiors of the mind, or to the ruling 
love. This love, therefore, is what is meant by the face 
in Sacred Scripture when spiritually interpreted. Ac- 
cordingly the Psalmist prays : " God be merciful to us 
and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us." 
(LXVIL i: LXXX. 3.) The inmost and very esse of 
the Lord, is pure, unselfish love. And when there is an 
influx of this love into our hearts, and we feel it as our 
own, then the Lord's face shines upon us, and we are 
saved — delivered from the love of self which is altogether 
infernal. And so the Psalmist again prays: " O God, 
cause thy/ace to shine, and we shall be saved." Deliv- 
erance from the dominion of self-love, and reception of 
the Lord's own love instead, is the only true salvation. 
Again, in Isaiah : "Your iniquities have separated be- 



Pi 1/ .!. 

t\w u and your God, Am\ your sins have hid his 1 

from you. M > If I the I . ■ 

and they who are ruled by it. are in a sinful state, and 
have no conception of the Lord's] >ve, His there- 

e hid from them. Again the Psalmist " Thy 

Lord, will I seek." We seek the Lord 1 when, 

through obedience to the laws of the h< avenly life wh 
1 [e ha tied, \\ n our hearts to the reception 

his i »\\ n life, that is, his unselfish love. Again : " B 
is the people that know the joyful sound ; they shall walk, 
O Lord, in the light of thy countenan The light of 

the Lord's countenance is the light of truth proceeding 
from his divine love, as light proceeds from and is the 
visible manifestation of heat in the natural world. 

And hundreds of similar illustrations from Scripture 
might be added ; all of which go to show the intimate 
connection of the spiritual sense of the Word, with the 
facts, phenomena and laws of the spiritual world ; and 
how a knowledge of these latter may help us in the right 
understanding and interpretation of the former. 

What, now, is the practical lesson to be drawn from 
the subject as here presented ? 

It may be seen from what has been said, that beauty 
is the mark which God has set on goodness. The ex- 
ternal beauty of the angels is but the type, or correspon- 
dential form, of their beautiful souls. Their pure and 
unselfish love exerts a potent influence over their bodily 
organism, moulding every feature into a form of corre- 
sponding grace and loveliness. Yes: it is love — love 
from the Lord, and therefore kindred to his own — that 
makes their faces so lovely. And this angelic beauty 






220 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

we arc all made capable of attaining in some measure. 
But the only way of attaining it, is by strict and religious 
obedience to the revealed laws of the angelic life, — pre- 
cisely as bodily health and vigor are attained and pre- 
served by strict conformity to the laws of health. En- 
couraging and strengthening by exercise the growth of 
angelic dispositions, is the sure way of ultimately attain- 
ing to angelic beauty. Our bodies in the Hereafter will 
be just what we, by our volitions and conduct here, choose 
to make them — moulded into forms exactly correspond- 
ent to the dispositions we cherish and the feelings we 
habitually indulge — perfect images of our ruling loves: 
beautiful and symmetrical if we are careful to strengthen 
and confirm the principles that beautify the soul, but ugly 
and deformed if we encourage the growth of the opposite 
principles. 

To conclude. It is a solemn and impressive fact, that 
within each of our material frames is a spiritual and im- 
mortal body, receiving its daily and hourly sustenance 
from the spiritual world; a be dy which lives and grows 
upon the food of angels, or the food of devils. And 
every year — yea, every day — this immortal body is ap- 
proximating the exquisite symmetry and grace ofheaven, 
or assuming more and more the hideous deformity of 
hell : and this, according to the prevailing tenor of our 
daily lives, — according to the dispositions we habitually 
cherish, and the motives from which we uniformly act. 
For here, in the flesh, our immortal part is daily and 
hourly taking on its enduring shape. Here it is con- 
tinually developing — every feature and lineament — in 
exact correspondence with the nature of the principles 



KI-'Jl 

we allow to n us ; that is, with the love that rei 

ur hearts, the central fire and moulding 
toivc of our immortal bein 



XVI 1 I. 

REJl 7 r ENESt EM E . I ND GROWTH IN «E 1 1 EN. 

WHOEVER thinks of existence in heaven as a 
reality, can hardly help asking, Do people grow 
old there as they do here on earth ? And is their age 
written on their faces, as it is on the faces of men ? And 
do those who leave this world far advanced in years, and 
who enter the society of the blessed, forever retain the 
withered form and furrowed cheeks which they had at 
the time they left this world ? There is really but one 
question involved in these interrogatories, and that is 
one concerning the age or apparent age of the denizens 
of heaven. Do they appear young or old ? What is 
Swedenborg's answer to this question ? 

Before adducing his testimony, we will consider how 
the question ougJit to be answered. What is the verdict 
of reason on the subject, and what the inevitable con- 
clusion to be drawn from the teaching of the last chap- 
ter ? 

If what has been said concerning the beauty of the 

angels is to be accepted as true, it follows that they do 

not grow old ; or, at least, that age does not plow such 

furrows in their faces as it does in the faces of men. For 

we all recognize something comparatively unbeautiful in 
19* 



2: 2 RE VEALED. 

tli (1 check, the lustr , and the furrowed 

hi old aye. The faces and forms of men and 

>men at ninety — however pure and innocent the lives 

they have led — would rarely be thought beautiful. They 

seldom — never, indeed — at that aye realize our highest 

ption of the human form. What, then, might we 

:t would be the appearance of those who have been 

in heaven thousands of years, if Time laid his palsying 

h tnd (n\ the bodies of angels as it docs on those ofir.cn? 

Why, they would be divested of every vestige of human 

comeliness. Their features and forms would hardly be 

recognized as human, so shriveled and wasted would 

they be. And if those who die at an advanced age and 

i to heaven, are forever to bear about them the same 
decrepid form and furrowed cheeks which marked their 
declining years on earth, then would it, indeed, be a 
calamity to live " to a good old age" on earth. Unless 
the aged saint is to lose in heaven his wrinkles and his 
decrepitude, and return to the vigor and freshness of his 
earlier years, who would wish to remain on earth beyond 
the age of twenty ?. 

What has been said, therefore, of the beauty of the 
angels, if true, is conclusive evidence that they do not 
apparently grow old in heaven ; and that the good who 
die at an advanced age, must there rejuvenate — must 
return to the beaut}' and buoyancy of their 4 ' golden 
prime." 

B( sides, in this world all the usual signs of old age, 
are so many signs of a decaying process — signs that 
corporeal dissolution has already commenced; for what 
is decay but a gradual dying? But there is no death in 



Vi n, consequently no decay. Therefore there can 
no deterioration there of any of the powers of bod) or 
of mind ; — no blunting of the senses, no \\ of the 

form, none of the visible signs which in this world pro- 
claim the coming on of decrepid old age. 

Moreover, time cannot properly be predicated of that 
which is spiritual ; consequently it cannot be predicated 
of the spiritual world, or of spiritual beings. We can- 
not say, nor even think, that God is old; nor that He 
is older now than lie was ten thousand years ago, or 
younger than I Ie will be ten thousand years hence. We 
cannot predicate age of love or wisdom or any of the 
Divine attributes. Nor can age be predicated of absolute 
Life. And God is the only absolute Life, and the infi- 
nite Fountain of life to angels and men. And Life itself 
is forever young and vigorous, forever fresh and new. 
And since the angels are continually becoming more and 
more perfect — continually being conjoined more closely 
with the Lord — continually receiving fresh increments 
of life from the One only Fountain of life, therefore they 
must be always advancing towards a state of ever-in- 
creasing vigor, bloom and beauty. 

Such is the undeniable testimony of reason on this 
subject. Such is the conclusion logically deduced from 
known and admitted truths, and from premises already 
established. And this is precisely what Swedenborg has 
reported from personal observation, after long and open 
intercourse with the heaven of angels. Let the follow- 
ing suffice for illustration : 

" Such as are principled in mutual love, are continually 
advancing in heaven to the spring-time of their youth; 



224 AVEN REVEALED. 

and the more thoi: of years they pass, they attain 

to a more joyous and delightful spring ; and so continue 
on to eternity, with fresh increments of blessedness ac- 
cording to their respective proficiencies and gradations 
of mutual love, charity and faith. Those of the female 
X who had departed this life broken with the infirmities 
of old having lived in faith towards the Lord, in 

charity towards their neighbor, and in conjugial love 
with their husbands, after a succession of ages appear to 
advance towards the bloom of youth, with a beauty sur- 
passing all description ; for goodness and charity form 
their own image in such persons, and express their de- 
lights and beauties in every feature of their faces, inso- 
much that they become real forms of charity. Certain 
spirits that beheld them were astonished at the sight. 
Such is the form of charity, which in heaven is repre- 
sented to the life ; for it is charity that portrays it, and 
is portrayed in it, and that in a manner so expressive, 
that the whole angel, more particularly as to the face, 
appears as charity itself in a personal form of exquisite 
beaut}' affecting the soul of the spectator with something 
of the same grace ; by the beauty of that form, the truths 
of faith are exhibited in an image, and are also thereby 
rendered perceptible. Those who have lived in faith 
toward the Lord, that is, in a faith grounded in charity, 
become such forms or such beauties in another life. All 
the angels are such forms with an infinite variety; and 
of these heaven is composed." — A. C. n. 553. 

Every candid mind must admit that this is altogether 
reasonable. And not only so, but any different view 
would at once appear unreasonable. And the rejuve- 
nating process in the other world, though it may proceed 
more rapidly than the aging process in this, proceeds 
according to a law no less fixed or intelligible. The 
Divine wisdom and beneficence are alike reflected in both 



WE v. 

pr< \ t and the onabl* i former 

arly discernible as thai of the latl r. rhe spiritual 
j mism being perfectly pi the influent life, 

that life becomes sweeter and richer, and its influx m 
copious, the inevitable result must I 'rowing per- 

tion of the human form, and a steady in* of hu- 

man beauty. 

Another qu ly allied to the one we have 

just considered, is: Do those who die in infancy or 
childhood continue to grow in the other world, as they 

would have done had they remained longer in this ? ( )r 
do they continue forever the same in stature as when 
they departed this life? Docs Swedenborg answer this 

question ? If so, how ? 

How would enlightened reason answer it? we again 
ask. Is it reasonable to suppose that an infant dying 
before it is able to walk, will remain to all eternity of 
the same infantile form, and be forever carried in some 
sweet mother's arms and dandled on some maternal knee? 
Is it probable — nay, is it conceivable that the all-wise 
and loving Father would permit an immortal soul to be 
thus prematurely arrested in its growth, and by an inci- 
dent over which that soul had no control, and was there- 
fore powerless to prevent? For we cannot conceive of 
the spirit of a little child developing into the grand, ca- 
pacious, wise and loving soul of a full-grown angel, with- 
out a corresponding change or development of that 
spiritual organism which constitutes its body in the spir- 
itual realm. The idea is repugnant to all our conceptions 
as well as our knowledge of the laws of divine order. 
As easily can we conceive of the luscious qualities of 

P 



226 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

the full-grown and ripened peacli or orange existing in 
the germ of that fruit soon as the flower has fallen ; or 
these qualities becoming fully developed there, with- 
out a corresponding growth and development of the germ 
itself. Far more reasonable is it to believe that the Lord 
lias made provision for the growth of the spiritual body- 
after the material has been sloughed off, that the soul 
may not be arrested in its development by the mere inci- 
dent of bodily death. The body grows on earth to the 
full stature of manhood by the stead}' accretion of ma- 
terial substance ; what should hinder its growth in heaven 
to the full stature of angelhood by a similar accretion 
of spiritual substance? The spiritual bod}- while yet in 
the flesh, grows with the material, — indeed it is the 
growth of the spiritual which causes that of the material ; 
what then is to hinder its continued growth after it leaves 
the flesh? It is not natural but spiritual substance that 
feeds the soul while in the natural bod}-; and will it not 
have the same food, and the same means of growth there- 
fore, after this bod}' dies? 

It is clear enough, then, what the verdict of reason is 
on this subject. Now listen to the testimony of him 
whose spiritual eyes and ears w r ere opened, and who was 
able, therefore, to testify " from things seen and heard." 

Many persons may imagine that infants remain such 
in heaven, and exist as infants among the angels. They 
who do not know what constitutes an angel, may have 
confirmed themselves in this opinion from the images 
sometimes seen in churches where angels are exhibited 
infants. But the ca^e is altogether otherwise. Intel- 
ence and Wisdom constitute an angel ; and so long as 
infants have not intelligence and wisdom, the}' arc not 



REyi 5 FN HE AVI 

hen tl 
, then for the first time tl 
it I ha\ 
— they then no ppear as infants, but as adult 

ire then no longer of an infantile genius, but 
of a more mature angelic genius. Intel". and v. 

m produce th t. As infants are perfected in in- 

telli and wisdom, they appear more mature, tl 

as youths and young men, because in tell and v. 

m are real spiritual nourishment. For thi m the 

things which nourish their minds nourish their I 

-and this from correspondence; for the form of 
the body is but the external form of the interiors. 

44 It is to be observed that infants in heaven do not ad- 
vance in age beyond the period of early manhood ; and 
there they stop forever [#. c. so far as apparent progr 
in age is concerned]. That I might be assured of this, 
it was granted me to converse with some who were edu- 
cated as infants in heaven, and who had grown up there; 
with some also when thev were infants, and afterwards 
with the same when they had become young men; and 
I heard from them the progress of their life from one a 
to another." — H. H. n. 340. 

And so we find that, on this as on other subjects, Swe- 
denborg's revealings " from things heard and seen " are 
in perfect agreement with the intuitions of the highest 
reason, and with all that is known of the wisdom and 
dealings of Providence and of the laws of divine order. 
It is impossible to conceive of any different view of the 
subject, which will so completely satisfy the demands of 
sober reason and an enlightened understanding. 

In view of such sublime revealings, what a precious 
boon is heaven ! — yet a boon which all are made capable 
of attaining, and which it is the Lord's ceaseless desire 



228 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

and effort to help us to attain. There flows forever the 
stream of the water of life, and forever increases in crystal 
clearness. There the fountains of Wisdom are ever fresh, 
and the flame of love burns with ever-increasing fervor. 
There beauty never fades, but^ever grows more fresh and 
fair. There none grow old, but all rejuvenate ; — all who 
have passed on earth their manhood's prime, are forever 
advancing towards younger, yet still riper life. Old age 
puts off its wrinkles there, and returns to the vigor and 
bloom of earl\- manhood. There joys never decay, and 
the warm current of bounding life gushes forth with 
perennial freshness. And the simple yet all-sufficient 
reason is, that the angels are forever becoming more and 
more receptive of the I )ivine Life — forever drawing nearer 
and nearer, or becoming more and more like, Him who 
is the one eternal Source of all wisdom, beauty, life and 

joy. 



XIX. 
HO USES AND HOMES IN HEAVEN 

ONE of the definitions which a distinguished lexi- 
cographer lias given of heaven, is, " the home of 
the blessed." And all good people, when they think 
of heaven, think of it as a HOME, — their denial home. 
When they look forward to the time of their decease, 
they think and speak of it as the time when they hope 
to be takm home. And when a righteous man clos 
his earthly pilgrimage, his neighbors say: " The good 



//( MES /X ill .11 I 

man has home." And they mean I))' this no m< 

nor less than that he has prone to heaven. 

Indeed, there is heavenly meaning and heavenly music 
in this monosyllable, — Home. There is meaning in it 

which the universal human mind p< md mu 

which the universal human heart feels. Home is I 
hallowed spot to which our fondest affections cling.; the 
u re o[ our strongest attachments, our sweetest re- 
membrances, our brightest hopes, our purest joys :ry- 
thing dear to the heart of a good man, everything most 
serene and peaceful in life, everything pleasant or cv n 
tolerable in death, clusters around this word. The sol- 
dier in the camp, the sailor on the seas, the traveler in 
foreign lands, — how does his eye kindle and his pulse 
quicken at the bare mention of this word ! As sings 
the poet : 

k> Who that in distant lands has chanced to roam, 

er thrilled with pleasure at the name of home ?'' 

"Very often," says Dr. Scars, "when the eyes are 
closing in death, and this world is shutting off the light 
from the departing soul, the last wish which is made 
audible, is, ' to go home.' The words break out some- 
times through the cloud of delirium ; but it is the Mail's 
deepest and most central want, groping after its object, 
haply soon to find it as the clogs of earth clear away, 
and she springs up on the line of swift affection, as the 
bee with unerring precision shoots through the dusk 
of evening to her cell." — Foregleatns of Immortality, p. 
128. 

Yes : Among all the deep wants of our nature, among 

the strong yearnings of every good man's heart, none 

are deeper or stronger than the want of, and the yearn- 
20 



2 30 ///;. / / '/•:. v re j '/■:. / L E / K 

ing for, a peaceful and happy home. To say of any man 
that he is homeless, is to picture him as forlorn and des- 
olate, ail exile and a wanderer, not yet having reached 
the goal of his earthly hopes. 

Now, God has implanted no deep want in the human 
breast without providing for its gratification. As a wise 
and beneficent Being, he must provide for the ultimate 
satisfaction of every desire which his own boundless 
love has placed within us. And this universal desire for 
a home, is one which belongs to the soul's nature. It 
is rooted in our spiritual constitution, — so deeply rooted, 
too, that we may be sure it will not perish with the death 
of the bod\'. And when we consider that this desire 
increases rather than diminishes in strength as we ad- 
vance in the regenerate life, or approximate the heavenly 
state, how can we resist the conclusion that it will exist 
in heaven also, and be even stronger there than here? 

And if this universal desire for a home goes with us 
into the other world (as it must, if it belongs to our 
spiritual constitution), we may be sure that the Lord, in 
the plenitude of his love and wisdom, will not fail to 
provide for its gratification in heaven. For the angels 
would be unhappy, and heaven would be no heaven to 
them, if, endowed with an intense longing for a home, 
the means and opportunity of satisfying this thirst were 
denied them. 

The conclusion, therefore, is forced upon us, that there 
are and must be homes in heaven, as there are in all the 
best and happiest portions of earth. 

But the moment we think of the angels as having 
homes t we think of them as dwelling in houses, — so inti- 



Hi WES /.v / 

mately is the idea of hom ited in our minds with 

kind of habitation, \\ n thii hu- 

man homes without human habitations oi >rt; 

and they arc no more possible in h< av< n than on earth. 

True, the first use of houses here n I 

the storms and shelter from the cold and heat But 
this, though it be their primary, is b means their 

[best, use. A house everywhere stan< >re- 

sentative image of home. It is the symbol of tho 
home-born, home-bred, and home-felt joys which con- 
stitute " that best portion of a good man's life." Suppi 
there were no inclement skies, no chilling frosts, nor 
scorching heat, nor drenching rains, nor pitiless blasts, 
nor anything, indeed, to make houses necessary to bod- 
ily comfort, does it follow that human beings would 
then need and have no houses ? By no means ; for so 
long as the love of home lives in the hearts of good 
men and women, so long will some kind of habitation 
be sought and had as the symbol of that love. Human 
beings, and especially those who have made much pr< 
ress in regeneration, will have houses as the sanctuaries 
of those pure domestic joys which are more than half 
the solace and sunshine and fragrance of life. 

Therefore houses, though not needed in heaven as a 
defense against cold and storms, are needed for their 
higher spiritual uses. And as sure as there dwells in 
the hearts of angels the love of home (and we cannot 
think of them as existing without this love), so sure is 
it that they must have houses. 

Moreover, the outward or phenomenal heaven would 
lose half its beauty if there were no houses. Picture to 



232 HE A 1 7:'X RE J 7. . / L ED. 

yourself the loveliest rural scene imaginable — fields and 
forests, trees and lawns, gardens and flowers, singing- 
birds and gurgling brooks, fleecy clouds and azure skies 
— and the picture would be clearly defective or incom- 

fce without human habitations. The presence of 

LUtiful houses as the symbols of life's sweetest joys, 
would be indispensable to the completeness of the 

ne. The aesthetic element of our nature demands 
this. 

It is because the love of home is so deeply implanted 
in the human heart, that we always feel the need of a 
house as its symbol to complete the beauty of any land- 
scape. Heaven, therefore, without human habitations 
would be lacking in one important element of beauty. 
It would not be our conception of the celestial realms. 
Besides, some of the deepest, tenderest, and best feel- 
ings of the heart — feelings which can be developed and 
kept alive only in the sanctuary of home — could not be 
visibly represented in heaven without houses. There- 
fore these feelings could not live — could, indeed, have 
no existence — in heaven ; for every living thing in the 
hearts of the angels, is pictured there under visible and 
correspondent! forms. This is the law which under- 
lies and determines all the phenomena of the other 
world — the law of correspondence. 

That there should be houses in heaven, therefore, 
seems altogether reasonable ; and not only reasonable, 
but, if the inner is visibly pictured in the outer world 
there, there must be houses. The great law that deter- 
mines the whole aspect of the phenomenal world in the 
Hereafter, necessitates this conclusion. And through 



the ttion of this 

ought al utiful ; 1,,r these, like 

all their other surroundin , the aormal outbirth 

on of their interior Stat in 

Let correspondence with tl that i 

with their prevailing the 
dispositions and motives— in short, with their rulii 

lov 

the clear verdict of reason on this subject. 

Such the conclusion reached by fair and logical ar 

it based upon certain known principles and deeply 
implanted instincts of our better nature. And now let 
us see how far the disclosures made thror. veden- 

borg agree with this conclusion; for, if true, they should 
not be in conflict with reason. The following extra 
are pertinent : 

" >ince there are societies in heaven, and the angels 
live as men, therefore they have habitations, and th 
like various according to each one's state of lite; 

magnificent for those in a state of superior dignity, and 
less magnificent for those in an inferior condition. . . I 
have been present with the angels in their habitations, 
which are precisely like those on earth called hous 
but more beautiful. They contain halls, parlors and 
bed-chambers in great numbers; also courts, and round 
about them, gardens, fields and shrubberies. Where 
the angels live in societies, their habitations are coir 
uous, close to each other, and arranged in the form of 
a city, with streets, alleys and public square 
like the cities on earth. It has also been granted me 
to walk through them, and occasionally to enter the 
houses. This occurred in a state of full wakefuln 
when my interior sight was opened." — II. H. n. 183, 
184. 

20 * 



2 j 4 ///•;. / 1 '/■; . \ ' re i •/•: \LED. 

"All the angels have their own habitations, which 

are magnificent I have occasionally seen them, and 
admired them, and have there conversed with the occu- 
pants. They are so distinct and conspicuous that noth- 
ing can be more so. The houses on earth are scarcely 
anything in comparison. Indeed, the angels say that 
such things on earth are dead and not real ; but that 
their own are alive and true, because they arc from the 
Lord. Their architecture is such as to be the ground 
and source of the architectural art, with an indefinite 
variety. The angels have assured me that, if they could 
have all the palaces on earth, they would not exchange 
their own for them. What is of stone and mortar and 
wood is to them dead; but what is from the Lord, or 
from essential life and light, this, they say, is alive — 
and the more so, as they enjoy it with all the fulness 
of sense. For the things in heaven are perfectly adapt- 
ed to the senses of spirits and angels; while things 
seen in the light of this solar world are altogether in- 
visible to them. 

"The walls of the habitations of angelic spirits are 
constructed with much variety, and are adorned also 
with flowers, and wreaths of flowers wonderfully com- 
posed, beside many other ornaments, which are varied 
in an orderly succession. At one time they appear in 
a clear light; at another time, in a light less clear; but 
always with interior delight. Their houses are also 
changed into more and more beautiful ones, as the 
spirits become more perfect in character." — A. C. n. 
i6y>-i630. 

M I have seen the palaces of heaven, which were mag- 
nificent beyond description. Their upper parts shone 
refulgent as if of pure gold, and their lower parts as if 
of precious stones. Some were more splendid than 
others; and the splendor without was equalled by the 
magnificence within. The apartments were ornamented 



; /x HE 1 I v 

W - It ] words can ad quatel; 

>e. 

«« 1 h r< en inf that not only the ; 

anc l h< ic minutest particulars both within 

and without them, correspond to the in in 

the an I; that the house itself in ral 

C()l: rood, and the various thii th- 

in it to the various particul f which their 

com —II. H. n. 185, 186. 

w all t] a perfect agreement with 

the laws of the spiritual world as unfolded by the same 
author It is precisely what might have been illy 

inferred, if the ruling loves of heaven and the law that 

ermines the phenomenal world there, be what he 
often tells us they are. Everything he has said about 
the habitations of the angels, is found to be in perfect 
harmony with all his other disclosures, and to foil 
by strict logical sequence from his fundamental princi- 
ples. So that what has been revealed through him on 
this subject is seen to have the merit of perfect consist- 
ency; and it is not less reasonable than consistent. 

The houses in heaven, we are told, correspond to the 
character or internal state of those who live in them. 
They are the visible representatives of the ruling lo 
of their occupants. And so exact is the correspondence 
that no angel can dwell permanently in any other house 
than his own ; for no other would be in correspondence 
with his state of life. His house is, in fact, a normal out- 
birth from his own state, built up or created from it and 
in correspondence with it. 

As the angels are all in states of love akin to the Lord's 
own, — all in bright, cheerful, affectionate, happy 



236 HE. I J EN RE J EALE . 

— therefore their houses arc all very beautiful. But there 
are countless degrees and kind 1 in which the 

angels and a consequent endless diversity of state 

among them, just as there are among good men and 

women on earth. And accordingly their habitations, 
although the\- are all beautiful, arc all somewhat differ- 
ent, corresponding to their different kinds and degrees 
of good. There is the same endless diversity in the 
heavenly habitations that there is in the character of 
their occupants; — the same, indeed, that characterizes 
the face of the whole habitable earth and every part of 
the material universe. 

In the spiritual world every ones own state determines 
not only the character of his habitation, but his place of 
abode and all his surroundings. And lie can feel per- 
fectly at home nowhere but in the midst of surroundings 
which are in correspondence with his inner life. This 
is both reasonable and probable. The same law is op- 
erative among men on earth, and with close approxima- 
tion to the same results. The character of every one 
does, in time, reveal itself to some extent in his earthly 
surroundings ; and there is ever a strong tendency in this 
direction. If possessed of ample means, and left to act 
in perfect freedom, each one chooses a location and builds 
and furnishes a house corresponding to his idea of beaut}', 
comfort and convenience. Give to some people the most 
magnificent habitation filled and surrounded with every- 
thing beautiful, and leave them to do with it as they 
please, and how long will it be before that palatial resi- 
dence will be changed to a loathsome den ? Of a nature 
(inherited or acquired) akin to that of certain animals, 



they will. loveliest habitation into 

a squalid them wh ou will, amid what- 

uty or m i ind th< mot 

fail in time to stamp their own character on all their sur- 
roundings. And en the other hand, place ; 
finement and culture in the humblest cabin, and will th 
not in time so beautify and adorn that cabin, that it will 
reveal to the intelligent observer something of their re- 
fined and cultivated tastes ? And the »n is obvious ; 
for every kind of life is delighted with, and there! 

ks, that and Oftfythat which cone-ponds with its own 
nature. 

And the same great law that fashions the habitations 
and the whole outward aspect of heaven, is (as might 
be expected, if true) no less operative or potential in 
hell. Character (good or bad) shapes each one's house 
and all his surroundings in the other world, in complete 
correspondence: with itself. And while the heavenly 
abodes are all inconceivably bright and beautiful, those 
<A~ the nether regions are correspondingly dark .md 
loathsome. Says Swedenborg: 

" All those who are in evil, and have confirmed them- 
selves in falsities against the truths of the church, and 
especially those who have rejected the Word, [in the 
other world] shun the light of heaven, and betake them- 
selves to subterranean places and clefts of the rocks, 
and hide there. And they seek such retreats becau 
they have loved falsities and hated truths ; for such cav- 
erns and clefts of rocks and darkness correspond to 
falsities, and light corresponds to truth. . . They who 
have been sordidly avaricious dwell in huts and love 
swinish filth [such things being in correspondence with 
their state of life]."— H. H. n. 488. 



23S //. V REVEALED. 

Now, it is every one's ruling love which determines 
his real cliaract late. And a house being the place 

of one's residence, corresponds to his stale. Each one's 
dominant love, therefore, fashions his spiritual house. 
For this love is the heart's home-centre. It is where 
the individual lives spiritually. It is the point towards 
which his soul perpetually gravitates, as surely as a ball 
suspended in the air forever gravitates towards the centre 
of the earth, or as the heart of a mother who loves her 
children and her household duties, perpetually gravi- 
tates towards her home whenever she is absent from it. 
Every one's thoughts and purposes are shaped and di- 
rected by his ruling love. If this be the love of wealth, 
of reputation, of preferment, of power, he will be con- 
tinually meditating plans by which to obtain what his 
heart longs for. Or if it be the love of the Lord and 
the neighbor — the love of truth, justice, sincerity, up- 
rightness, and of enlightening, improving and blessing 
his fellow-men, then will his thoughts centre on these 
things, and be chiefly occupied with plans for promoting 
them. So obviously true is it that each one's ruling 
love is the determining force within him. This is his 
heart's centre, — the point towards which his whole being 
gravitates and around which it perpetually revoh 
This is his spiritual dwelling-place, his habitation, his 
home. And this, therefore, is what every one's house in 
the Hereafter represents or images to the outward eye. 

And since the law which determines the phenomenal 
world in the spiritual realm, is the very same as that 
which determines the letter of the Word, — that is, the 
law of correspondence, which is none other than the 



.v. 

relation of cause and effect, — tin denboi 

descriptions of the phenomena of the other world, and 
his unfoldirigs of the internal s i the Word, ought 

not only to harmonize, but mutually to confirm and il- 
lustrate each other. And this they are found to do in a 
manner so remarkable and strikin :arlyto demon- 

strate the truth of both. It is, as we have often re- 
marked, one of those verifications of the truth of his 
tements, Mich as no human ingenuity, how 
ild have possibly contrived and in all cases made to 

tally. 

Take the case of houses in heaven, and their corre- 
spondence and significance. The Psalmist says, " One 

thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, 
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days 
of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to in- 
quire in his temple " (xxvii. 4). Is this to be understood 
literally? If SO, one can hardly conceive of a more 
unreasonable desire than is here expressed. But, under- 
stood in its spiritual sense, the thing which the Psalmist 
here longs for above all else, is worth)' the intense long- 
ing and supreme effort of every human being. Lor 
"the house of the Lord," interpreted by the rule of cor- 
respondence, means the will or life of the Lord, — his 
pure and unselfish love. To dwell in this house is to 
dwell in Him, or in that disinterested love which is from 
Him and is Himself — a love which pours itself forth 
liberally as the ever-bountiful sun, — a love which never 
:ks its own, but always the good of others. To dwell 
in this love is to have this love dwelling and opera! 
in us. As saith the beloved disciple, " God is love, and 



240 l< EVE A LED. 

he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in 

him." [s there anything so much to be desired as this? 
It is the noblest, highest, happiest state which a human 

being can attain to. It is the truly human state; yea, 
the heavenly state. 

Interpreting the Psalmist's language spiritually, there- 
fore, or by the rule of correspondence, we see that the 
thing he desired and resolved to seek above all else, is 
the thing worthy of every one's supreme affection and 
best endeavor. It is, indeed, what every regenerating 
soul must desire and seek after as the supreme good. 

Again, after saying, "The Lord is my Shepherd : I 
shall not therefore want," the same inspired writer ex- 
claims, " Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all 
the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the 
Lord forever/ 1 (xxiii. 6.) What sort of a house can 
here be meant ? the thoughtful inquirer will again ask. 
Not any temporary, earthly, or material structure, but 
that spiritual, heavenly and eternal habitation which is 
the Lord's own, — that sweet and all-embracing love 
which is himself, his own essential life, — that " house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And every 
one comes into and evermore abides in this house, who, 
through self-denial and inward conflict, and obedience 
to the known laws of the Lord, comes into a state of 
disinterested neighborly love. So that this language of 
the Psalmist, in its spiritual sense, is seen to be, like all 
inspired language, of universal application. Every soul 
that takes the Lord for his shepherd and guide, and 
faithfully follows 1 Iim, may be sure of the abundant and 
continued influx of his goodness and mercy, and may 



Hi 

ly say, " I shall dwell in the house of the I .• 

And so of other pa in the Word which s] 

14 the Father's house/' "the house of the Lord/ 1 "the 
house of the God of Jacob/ 1 etc , and of," going up I 
I "dwelling in" that house. When the pond- 

or spiritual mean in mderst uch 

pas to ha\ than a l< »cal 

or h significance. They arc seen to be full of in- 

struction for people of every age and nation; for it is 
seen that at all tim I in all pla ven where there 

is no visible temple or place of external and formal wor- 
ship, souls may be ever " going up to the mount of the 
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob." 

And Swedenborg further tells us that houses in heaven, 
like the best houses on earth, have many separate apart- 
ments, — inner-chambers and closets; and these corre- 
spond to the more interior recesses of even' soul, to the 

ret motives of every heart. They are the visible sym- 
bols of those interior states to which the devout believer 
retires when he wishes to be alone with God — to " com- 
mune with his own "heart " — to examine himself in the 
light of divine truth. It is to such interior states — to 
these deeper recesses of the heart, that reference is had 
in the spiritual sense of the Lord's words, where I le says, 
"When thou prayest, enter into thy closet;" for there, 
in the secret closet of the soul, is the place for all genuine 
prayer and worship — for all real fellowship and vital union 
with Him who seeth in secret, and whose reward is sure. 

And thus we find that, between Swedenborg's dis- 
closures of the facts and phenomena of the spiritual 
21 Q 



242 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

world and his spiritual interpretations of the Scripture, 
there is no disagreement but perfect harmony. And this 
harmony is such as no human ingenuity could ever have 
invented ; such, indeed, as clearly demonstrates the truth 

of both. If the law winch determines the phenomenal 
world in the great Beyond, be the same as that according 

to which the Divine of the Lord forever descends to 
ultimates, according to which the inspired Word was 
composed, according to which creation is effected, — 
namely, the law of correspondence between the interior 
and exterior, or between cause and effect, — then we 
should expect to find in the teachings of the seer pre- 
cisely the harmony to which we have referred, and which 
actuall)' exists there. 

Briefly to sum up what has been said : — 
The heaven that Swedenborg tells us of is a thor- 
oughly human heaven. And since it is human, there 
must be homes and consequently human habitations 
there. These, like everything else in the other world, 
are spiritual in their nature. This, too, is the testimony 
of both reason and Scripture. The houses in heaven 
are growths — creations — from within, and therefore in 
perfect correspondence with the states of their occu- 
pants. They are the normal outbirths of the loves 
which rule in the hearts of the angels — of loves which 
constitute their very being, and in whose exercise they 
live and find their supreme delight. Beautiful and 
magnificent are they, too, according to the breadth, ex- 
altation, purity and intensity of their love; yet differ- 
ing from each other as the angels themselves differ — 
thus enhancing the beaut)' and joy of heaven by their 



//« < IX HEAVEN. 

endless variety. Ami what is there in all this that is 
contrary I on, to the teachings of Scripture, 

our hi ptions ^\ the wisdom and love and 

providence of ( rod ? 

Then look at its practical tendency — its immed 
and direct bearing upon the life and char of the 

liever. Is it not obviously good and wholesome ? In 
the light oi these disclosures we see that all the spl n- 
did habitations and magnificent palaces of heaven are 
but pictorial representations, under the great law of 
corn spondence, of the ruling loves of the angels. They 
are the exact images of their dominant affections, re- 
flecting with mathematical precision their inner life and 
character. It is each one's ruling love that fashions and 
adorns his house in the other world, the inner cham- 
bers and closets of which, with all their furniture, are but 
the correspondential images of his secret motives and 
hidden purposes. And he cannot possibly have or 
dwell in any other house than that which is in corre- 
spondence with his character. 

So that, when our fleshly tabernacle is dissolved, if 
we would dwell in the beautiful mansions on high, we 
can hope to do so only by developing and earning 
with us the angelic loves of which those mansions are 
the visible symbols. We must begin on earth to live 
the life of heaven ; must imbibe here, and carry with 
us into the Hereafter, something of that heavenly spirit 
which creates for the angels their magnificent abod 
must begin here to find our life and delight in the per- 
formance of useful deeds from high and heavenly mo- 
tives; must begin to make the Lord's unselfish love the 



sweet and familiar dwelling-place of our souls. For, 
>rding to the dispositions we indulge, the purp< 

cherish, the plans of life we pursue, the motives we 
allow to govern US, we are actually building while here 
on earth our everlasting habitations; — building them 
beautiful and symmetrical like the palaces of heaven, 
if our ends of life be high and heavenly, but dark and 
dismal like the abodes of hell, if our ends be mean and 
selfish. 



XX. 
GARMENTS IN HEAVEN. 

ANOTIIKR question which people arc inclined to 
ask about heaven, is : Are the angels clad in gar- 
ments? If so, arc they all clothed alike? And if not 
alike, upon what does the diversity depend ? What de- 
termines the character and quality of their garments? 
The following are Swedcnborg's answers to these ques- 
tions : 

"Since angels are men, and live together in society 
like men on earth, therefore they have garments. . . . 
Their garments correspond to their intelligence. There- 
fore all in heaven appear clothed according to their in- 
telligence; and because some excel others in intelli- 

tice, therefore they have more excellent garments. 
The most intelligent have garments that glitter as from 
flame, and some have garments that shine as from light. 
The less intelligent have bright and white garments 
without splendor; and the still less intelligent have 
garments of different colors. 



1 IN h X. 245 

ince the garments of the angels 

nee, th nd also to truth, 

all intelligence is from divine truth. Therefore whether 
we say that angels arc cloth 1 intelligence 

:ording to divine truth, it is the .same thing, J 
■nts of glitter as from flame,' and those of 

3 shim- as from light, because dame correspo 
to good, and light to truth derived from good. The 
garments of some arc bright and white without splen- 
dor, and those of others are of di lors, because 
the divin< 1 and truth arc less refulgent, and also 
variously received, with the less intelligent. 

1 That the garments of the angels do not merely ap- 
irments, but that they really are garments, is 
manifest from these considerations: that they not only 
see them, but also feel them ; that they have many gar- 
ments ; that they take them off and put them on ; that 
they lay aside those which are not in use, and when 
the\' come into use again they resume them. That 
they are clothed with a variety of garments I have wit- 
nessed a thousand times. I inquired whence they ob- 
tained them, and they told me from the Lord ; that they 
received them as gifts, and that they are sometimes 
clothed without knowing how. They also said that 
their garments are changed according to the changes 
of their state ; that in the first and second states they 
arc bright and shining, and in the third and fourth 
states rather more dim ; and that this also is from cor- 
respondence, because their changes of state are changes 
as to intelligence and wisdom. 

" Since every one in the spiritual world is clothed ac- 
cording to his intelligence, thus according to the truths 
from which his intelligence is derived, therefore those 
in the hells, being without truths, appear only in torn, 
squalid and miserable garments, each one according to 
his insanity. Nor can they wear any others." — II. II. n. 

177-81. 
21* 



246 HEAVEN !/./:/). 

Here, again, we are told that it is because angels arc 

men x and liv< her in y like men on earth, that 

they arc clad in garments- the same reason, observe, 

which was assigned for their dwelling in houses. The 
argument, brief as it is, when duly considered is seen to 

be one of immense force. It will bear expansion — re- 
quires it, indeed, that its full force may be seen and felt. 
In its expanded form it may be stated thus: 

Man is endowed by his Creator with a certain consti- 
tution, physical and moral; and this constitution has its 
laws. His physical or material organization perishes, 
but the moral or spiritual, which is the real, never dies. 
And the laws of his immortal part remain forever the 
same. And belonging to this part of our nature, even 
when regenerate, are certain implanted instincts, wants 
and tendencies. And these must remain so long as 
man's spiritual constitution remains, or so long as he 
continues to be man. And while they remain, they 
impel him in certain directions, and necessitate a certain 
environment For example, he is gifted with a social 
nature which impels him to seek the society of his fel- 
lows. And as this tendency belongs to our immortal 
part, it must exist in the Hereafter, and will therefore ne- 

ssitate the existence of societies in the spiritual world. 

Another of the laws or God implanted tendencies of 
our moral nature, is that of spiritual affinity, which im- 
pels each (^nc to seek the society of kindred spirits. 
This law or tendency can never cease until we cease to 
be human. Its active force in the Hereafter, therefore, 
necessitates the arrangement of angels and spirits into 
innumerable societies. 



Another of the implanted instincts of our immortal 
nature, and which will then ndure so Ion the 

soul endures, is the love of home. And this \o\ n 
the existence of that visible symbol of hon 
the house, as the only means of fully satisfying this 
want of the soul. Hence, we arc told, the angels have 
houses and live in them because they are men l with the 

Its, affections and tendencies of men, alive and 
in them. And for the same reason, also, angels are clad 
arments, — because they arc men. 

Remarks similar to those made respecting houses in 
heaven, are applicable also to the disclosure about gar- 
ments there. For these have a moral or spiritual as 
surely as they have a physical use, even here on earth. 
They are required for the satisfaction of the soul, no less 
than for the protection and comfort of the body. Our 
spiritual nature demands them for the gratification of its 
God-given wants. And if it calls for them here, it will 
call for them in the world beyond. If garments on earth 
were worn merely for the body's comfort and safety, 
why are they not laid aside when the weather is such 
that the body does not need them ? True, this, or some- 
thing approaching it, is done in some parts of our world. 
But what parts? Not where man's higher nature is 
most developed, and the angel life in him is most con- 
spicuous, but where this nature is most shriveled and 
debased — where the angel is most hidden beneath the 
bestial life, and man approaches nearest to the condition 
of the brutes. 

As some evidence of the moral signification and use 
of dress among men, see how various are the garments 



248 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

of different people even in the same climate, country, 
city or village — various in color, form and material. 
This variety results from the variety of mental states — 
from a diversity of tastes which is its underlying and 
efficient cause; and it proves that garments are chosen 
to gratify an implanted want of the soul not less than 
an immanent need of the body. 

The same truth is further evinced by the well-known 
fact that the soul of the same individual instinctively 
craves different garments when in different states. To- 
day you wear one that satisfies the demands of both 
body and soul. To-morrow some specially sad or joyous 
event occurs, and the soul requires a different garment 
— more sombre or more gay according to the nature of 
the event, and thus corresponding more truly with your 
mental state. Every one perceives how inappropriate a 
ball-room dress would be at a funeral, — so inappropriate, 
indeed, that our best feelings would be disturbed if not 
shocked by such unfitness. And why ? Clearly because 
there are certain wants of the soul as well as of the body 
which garments are required to satisfy. And a brilliant 
dress on a solemn occasion fails to meet this require- 
ment. Why do little children prefer garments of bright 
and gay colors? Not because these make their bodies 
more comfortable, but because they better correspond 
with, and satisfy the requirements of, their gay and glad- 
some spirits. For a similar reason old age usually pre- 
fers garments of grave and sombre colors; for such 
colors are in close correspondence with the sober 
thoughts of age, and therefore more satisfying to the 
soul's requirements. 



Why is it, again, that children are so fond of new 
garments, and love to change their garments 
While aged people are content to wear the 
for years, and care little or nothing for ch 
or color ? The difference in their mcnt.il states furnishes 
the all-sufficient answer. The states of little children - 
their thoughts and feelings — change quickly and oft< n ; 
while those of the aged arc comparatively fixed and 
nary. 

It is plain to be seen, therefore, that there is a mean- 
ing to garments as worn here on earth. They signify 
and reveal something of the wearer's mental state — - 
which they could not do if they had not a spiritual as 
well as a natural use to subserve ; if they did not meet 
a want of the soul as well as of the body. The universal 
human heart has ever had a perception of this truth; 
for in all ages men have recognized the propriety of dif- 
ferent kinds of garments, corresponding to and indicative 
of different kinds and degrees of intelligence, and differ- 
ent stations and occupations in life. Thus the queen's 
or emperor's robe, the judge's gown, the bishop's sur- 
plice, the soldier's coat, the sailor's jacket, and the cob- 
bler's apron, are each appropriate to the wearer's function. 
And if the positions and occupations of men in this 
world were always according to their intelligence and 
capabilities, then their garments, being according to 
each one's use or function, would correspond with and 
indicate the kind and degree of their natural intelligence, 
— as in the spiritual world each one's garments corre- 
spond with his spiritual intelligence. 



250 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

To sum up the rational argument for the truth of Swe- 
denborg's disclosure on this subject: 

We h; tnple warrant for affirming that garments, 
even in this world, subserve a spiritual as well as a 

natural use; that they are required not less to satisfy 
the wants and appetencies of the soul, than the imma- 
nent nccd^ of the body. And as the soul is immortal, 
and retains all its wants and appetencies when released 
from the incumbrance of gross matter, it will desire gar- 
ments in the spiritual world. And since all lawful de- 
sires (and the angels have no others) will be gratified in 
heaven, therefore its denizens must be clad in garments. 
And because of that great and universal law which de- 
termines the aspect of all outward things in the spiritual 
world, their garments must correspond to their states of 
intelligence, and change with the changes of their states 
— as Swedenborg has many times declared. 

Let us now look at the Scripture testimony. The 
Bible makes frequent mention of angels, and always 
speaks of them as being clothed. Their garments, or 
the color and aspect of them, are often spoken of. Thus 
it is said of the angel that rolled the stone away from 
the door of the sepulchre, that " his countenance was 
like lightning, and his raiment white as snow." And 
when the weeping Mary looked into the sepulchre, the 
record says she saw " two angels in white, sitting, the 
one at the head and the other at the feet where the body 
of Jesus had lain." And Luke speaks of these two 
angels as "two men in shining garments." (xxiv. 4.) 
And in the Revelation the four and twenty elders are 
Spoken of as "clothed in white raiment." The)', also, 



ARMRNTS l.\ V. 

that ' I before the throne and the Lamb, were "clothed 

in white robt Ami " white I :ven t< 

■ of them' 1 that were under the altar. Again it i> 

said that the armies which the seer beheld "in heaven' 1 

following Mini who was "called Faithful and 'I aid 

M on whose head were many crowns,' 1 were "clothed in 

fine linen clean and white." And of him "that ov 
cometh" it is said, "the same shall be clothed in white 
raiment." (Chs. iii., vi., vii., xiii., xiv., x 

The testimony of the Bible, therefore, is ample and 

conclusive on this subject, and in complete accord with 
that of reason and the disclosures of the illumined 
Swede. 

Then see how intimately these disclosures are con- 
nected with the deeper or heavenly meaning of the Scrip- 
ture, and what light they throw upon many portions of 
it. For everything that appears in heaven, is in corre- 
spondence with something belonging to angelic minds, 
and is the visible image thereof. And garments, we are 
told, correspond to spiritual intelligence, and therefore 
represent the truths or thoughts that clothe the affections 
of the wearers. 

" Both angels and spirits appear clothed in garments, 
and every one according to his truth. They who are 
in genuine divine truths appear clothed in white shining 
garments; and others in others. Some spirits do not 
know whence garments come to them, but they are put 
on while they are ignorant of it. And their garments 
vary according to the changes of their state as to truths. 
In a word, their intellectual is what is exhibited and 
represented by garments ; for the intellectual of every 
one is formed by truths, and becomes of such a quality 



252 ALED. 

are truths from which it is formed. The intellectual 
appertaining to the an f heaven is in their internal, 

hence they have white shining garments; the shining 
is om the divine good, and the whiteness is from the 

it of heaven, which is the divine truth. But the gar- 
ments of those who are in things external without an 
internal principle, are dirty and tattered, like those of 
:s m the streets and of robbers in forests." — A. C, 
n. 10,536 ; also n. 524S. 

From this we may readily understand the spiritual 
signification of the garments of Jerusalem, and her 

mely ornaments; and may see what is meant by the 
11 wedding garment," without which there can be no ad- 
mission into the heavenly kingdom ; and why we are 
commanded to keep our garments clean, or to guard 
tinst their defilement. Thus, in Isaiah we read: 
11 Put on thy beautiful garments, C) Jerusalem" (lii. 1). 
By Jerusalem is meant the Lord's church, viewed in- 
dividually or collectively. And what are her gar- 
ments but the truths of wisdom from the Word of God? 
These are the appropriate clothing of whatever there is 
of God's love in human hearts. They are, therefore, 
the beautiful garments of Jerusalem. And when Jeru- 
salem (the individual or collective church) is brought 
into perfect marriage union with the Lord, and becomes 
his own, this is the Divine testimony respecting her or- 
naments and apparel : 

u I clothed thee also with broidered work and shod 
thee with badger's skins; and I girded thee about with 
fine linen, and covered thee with silk. I decked thee 
also with ornaments, and put bracelets upon thine hands 
and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy 



V. 

forehead, and ear-rings in thine tnd a beaul 

>wn upon thine head, Thus wast thou i 1 with 

gold and silver ; and thy raiment I fine Linen and 

silk and broidered work- . . . And . . . thy beaut] 
perfect through my Cornelia s which I had put upon 
thee, saith the Lord God." (Ezek, xvi« i 

All moral or spiritual beauty is the Lord's own 
liness; for it is his own life in the soul of man. He 

stamps his comeliness on all who become spiritually 
ned to Him through obedience of life, and this it 

is that makes their souls beautiful. lie clothes and 
adorns their minds with the precious and various truths 
of his wisdom. These are the beautiful garments and 
precious jewels wherewith He ever decks Jerusalem his 
Bride. And in the other world where all the inner 
qualities of the soul manifest themselves to the outward 
sense, those who have received the beautiful and pre- 
cious life of the Lord, appear clad in garments of cor- 
responding beauty. 

And when the interiors of the soul are conjpletely 
laid open — as is the case with all shortly after they en- 
ter the other world — or, what is the same, when the 
Lord comes in with his revealing light and life, it then 
becomes manifest whether that soul is and has been 
inwardly a worshiper of self and the world, or of the 
Lord in his Divine Humanity. If the former, he can 
have no permanent abode in the kingdom of light, but 
only in the " outer darkness," however fair and beauti- 
ful may have been his outward life and character; but 
if the latter, he is inwardly wedded to the Lord by 
love, and his thoughts thence proceeding are thoughts 

22 



254 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

of corresponding truth and loveliness. His mind is 
clothed with celestial intelligence; he has on "the 
wedding garment." And from this we may understand 
the meaning of the parable of the marriage of the king's 

n (Matt xxii ), and why it is said that "when the 
kin-- came in." and "saw there a man not having on a 
W( dding garment," he gave commandment that he be 
taken away, and " cast into the outer darkness." All 
divine laws are self-executing. And the soul that lias 
not become internally married to the Lord by a life of 
obedience to his precepts, is, by its own organic con- 
ditions, without the wedding garment, and therefore 
outside of the Kingdom — unclothed with celestial in- 
telligence — in "the outer darkness." 

And SO we might extend our illustrations through 
many pages, showing again the intimate connection be- 
tween Swedenborg's revealings of the spiritual sense 
of Scripture, and his disclosures concerning the spiritual 
world. .And we find a similar agreement throughout 
his writings. Can a coincidence so striking and so often 
repeated, be the result of mere accident? If so, such a 
marvelous kind of accident never occurred before or 
since his time. And if it were an ingenious contrivance 
of the author, then he (the man of exceptional honesty, 
simplicity, and child-likeness of character) must be cred- 
ited with such a degree of ingenuity and cunning as the 
World never before witnessed — yea, such as the human 
imagination was never capable of conceiving. Only 
things that are divinely true, parts of the grand and 
universal order of God, ever fit into each other in a 
manner so complete and perfect. 



GAR /.v /. .V. 

Then look at the practical considerations with wl 

thi losure, like all the others about h 

fraught The garments of the angels, like their habi- 
tations ami their whole environment, are indissolubly 
bound to themselves as effects to their producii 
The quality and appearance of th< ire in ; 

respondence with their si I f life, and ch \ ith 

those states. Their understandings arc stored with the 
beautiful and precious truths of heavenly wisdom. These 
clothe and adorn their minds, and create for them 
by the unerring law of correspondence, garments of cor- 

ponding worth and beauty visible to the outward eye. 
And here, let it be borne in mind (for it is the practi- 
cal lesson to be learned from this disclosure), we are 
daily weaving and working for ourselves the garments 
we shall wear in the great Hereafter. And we can wear 
no others than those we make, as it were, with our own 
fingers. If we are sedulously imbibing heavenly intel- 
ligence, seeking to have our minds clothed and adorned 
with the truths of wisdom from the Divine Word, as 
only those are who are careful to live or do the truths 
they learn, then we'are weaving for our souls garments 
of heavenly texture and brilliancy. But if we are re- 
gardless of the Divine precepts, if we fail to clothe our 
minds with the truths of wisdom, as do those who neg- 
lect to apply these truths to life, then we shall have no 
garments, or none but filthy and ragged ones, in the 
Hereafter, to cover the shame of our nakedness. There- 
fore, saith the Lord: u Blessed is he that watchcth and 
keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see 
his shame." 



25 r > HEAVEN REVEALED. 

XXI. 
CHILDREN IN HEAVEN 

IT is known that hundreds of thousands of little chil- 
dren are daily passing by death from the natural 
into the spiritual world. What becomes of all this in- 
fantile host? In what condition are they when their 
earthly bodies are laid aside? Arc they infants and 
little children still? If so, who has charge of them ? 
and what is done for them? and what their history and 
final destiny? Millions of bereaved parents are hourly 
asking these questions — mentally if not orally; and it 
would seem reasonable to expect that God, who has 
revealed Himself as an infinitely wise and loving Father, 
would some day give an explicit answer to such inqui- 
ries, lie has done so through his own chosen and illu- 
mined servant But before giving the answer, the reader 
should know what the generally accepted belief on this 
subject among Christians, was at the time Swedenborg 
lived and wrote; for this will show the dense spiritual 
darkness in which the Christian church had become 
immersed, and the imperative need there was of such a 
new revelation as he was divinely authorized and com- 
missioned to make. 

Many who have not made themselves familiar with 
the religious beliefs of a hundred years ago, will no 
doubt be surprised to learn that the cruel and worse than 
heathenish doctrine of infant damnation, was among the 
then generally accepted beliefs of all the churches in 
Christendom. The Roman Catholics believed and taught 



CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 

th it all infants dying unba re doom ternal 

hell torments. And all the distin md 

luthorities in the various Protestant ch 
— including Luther, Melancthon, Calvin and B za, and 
many eminent pn r them, the 

English and German churches, the Synod of 1 md 

the famous Westminster Assembly of divines — belie\ 
that everlasting hell torments will be the portion of 

.v, at least, who die in infancy and childhood. This 

11 to be one of the legitimate offspring of 

the doctrine of unconditional election and reprobation, 

which was generally accepted by all Protestant churches 

a hundred years ago. 

It is needless to make anv comments on this doctrine, 
or to attempt to prove its falsity. For in the light of 
to-day — the dawning light of the New Jerusalem which 
is being universally diffused — every one sees that it is 
not only false, but so monstrous and cruel that no intel- 
ligent and humane person thinks of accepting it. And 
although it may still linger in some of the creeds, or be 
fairly deducible from other articles there, the staunch. 
Calvinistic minister of to-day would hardly dare to pro- 
claim such a doctrine before an intelligent congregation, 
or even hint his belief in it; or if he should, he might 
expect his people would very soon be on the lookout 
for another minister. How great, then, must have been 
the spiritual darkness of the church, when such a doc- 
trine could have been generally accepted ! And how 

* See the many and high authorities on this subject quoted and reft .■: 
to in Part I. of Beauty for Athes % by the author. 
22* R 



258 AVEN REVEALED. 

great the need of a new and divinely-authorized revela- 
tion to disperse that darkness! 

Turn, now, to Swedenborg's disclosure on this sub- 
ject, and sec how it squares with the teachings of en- 
lightened reason and Iloly Scripture. He says: 

"Some believe that only the infants who arc born 
within the church go to heaven, hut not those born out 
of the church ; and the reason they assign is, that in- 
fants within the church are baptized, and are thus initi- 
ated into the faith of the church. Jkit they are not 
aware that no one receives heaven or faith by baptism, 
for baptism is only for a sign and memorial that man 
1- to be regenerated. . . . Be it known, therefore, that 
every infant, wheresoever born — whether within the 
church or out of it, whether of pious or impious parents 
— when he dies, is received by the Lord, and is educa- 
ted in heaven. lie is there instructed according to di- 
vine order, and is imbued with affections of good, and 
by them with the knowledges of truth; and afterwards 
as he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom, he is in- 
troduced into heaven and becomes an angel." — H. II. 
n. 329. 

We learn from this that all who die in infancy and 
childhood, go directly to heaven. They are not angels, 
however, immediately after their decease, for they lack 
the intelligence and wisdom necessary to constitute an 
angel. They have the same infantile mind which they 
had while yet in the flesh ; for the death of the body 
works no change in the spiritual organism. So long, 
therefore, as they are without heavenly intelligence and 
wisdom, they are not angels, although in the society of 
Is. 

11 When infants die, they are still infants in the other 



CHILDREN IN HEAV1 






life, They have the same infantile mind, the in- 

noi mce, and the same tenderness in all 

thii only in rudimental stairs introd 

to ry to the angelic — for infants are not ! 

one M\cv his decease, is in a similar state of life to that 
in which he was in the world; an infant in a of 

infancy, a boy in a state of boyhood, a youth, a man, 
an old man, in the state of youth, of a man, and of an 
old man; hut the state of every our is afterwards 
changed. The state of infants, however, excels that 
of all others in this respect, that they are in innocence, 
and evil from actual life has not yet taken root in them. 
And such is the nature of innocence, that all thin [S of 
heaven may he implanted in it; for it is the receptacle 
of the truth of faith and of the good of love." — II. II. 
n 330. 

"As soon as infants are raised from the dead, which 
takes place immediately after their decease, they are 
taken into heaven, and committed to the care of angels 
of the female sex, who in the life of the body loved lit- 
tle children tenderly, and at the same time loved God. 
Because these angels when in the world loved all in- 
fants from a sort of maternal tenderness, they receive 
them as their own; and the little ones also, from an in- 
clination implanted 'in them, love them as their own 
mothers. Each one has as many infants under her 
care, as she desires from a spiritual maternal affection." 
— Ibid. n. 332. 

The condition, in the spiritual world, of those who die 
in infancy and childhood, is thus seen to be preferable 
to that of those who continue on earth. Their surround- 
ings are more favorable to the growth of the heavenly 
graces. They arc in better company. Their spiritual 
wants are more fully supplied ; for those who have them 
in charge are wiser than the wisest mothers or nurses 



260 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

Oil cartli, and love them with a purer spiritual affection 
— an affection that has supreme regard to their eternal 
ll-being. Thus they are kept under the more imme- 
diate auspices of the Lord, and arc freed from the mani- 
fold debasing influences that surround little children in 
this lower sphere. They inhale the healthful atmosphere 
of heaven. Xo blasting mildew — no foul breath from 
hell falls upon them there. They meet with no harsh 
or unkind treatment. So wisely are they led and gov- 
erned, that their hereditary evils lie dormant — never be- 
come actual sins. They witness in those around them 
no exhibition of evil feelings, they hear no profane or 
angry words, they look upon no wicked deeds. Love 
prompts raid wisdom directs whatever is done to them 
and for them. Love breathes in every tone they hear; 
love beams in every face the\' sec ; love moulds the forms 
and prompts the words and shapes the deeds of all around 
them. Even the gardens, trees and flowers, and all the 
beautiful objects that greet their senses, are but the 
visible and substantial forms of the angelic thoughts and 
affections which arc poured forth in a fresh and ever- 
living stream into their open and receptive souls. 

They are educated, too, in a far wiser manner than 
children on earth. They are instructed for the most 
part by representatives which are surpassingly beautiful 
and fraught with angelic wisdom. Objects which delight 
them exceedingly — all of which arc correspondences re- 
plete with instruction suited to their states — arc presented 
before them, and their signification fully explained; and 
thus their minds are gradually opened, and they are led 
on by their angel teachers to the fulness of angelic wis- 



dom, more rapidly and more pleasantly than child] 

under even the very best in >n in I 

led 
by their a r the angels know how to insinu 

heavenly intelli into the minds of little children by 

ins of obj hich address and delight their s 

1 U scribing the manner in which children are educe 
in heaven, Swedenl 

" [nto their affections which all proceed from inno- 
cence, are insinuated such tl r before tl 

aid are delightful. And as these are from a spir- 
itual origin, the thi f heaven flow into them at the 

ne time ; and thus their interiors are opened, and they 
become more perfect every day." 

" Little children in heaven are instructed principally 
by representatives' suited to their capacities, which, in 
beauty and fulness of wisdom derived from an interior 
ground, surpass all belief. Thus intelligence which de- 
rive soul from good, is insinuated into them by de- 
-II. II. n.i 37 , 

id this, remember, was written more than twenty 
years before Froebel, the founder of the new method ni 
educating little children known as the Kindergart 
tern, was born. Yet the latter m is a faithful imi- 

tation of the method pursued in heaven, as revealed 
through Swcdenborg a hundred and thirty years ago. 

But those who pass into the spiritual world during in- 
fancy or childhood, do not remain infants and children. 
They advance there as here to the full stature of man- 
hood. They grow by the assimilation or accretion of 
the substances of the spiritual world, as children on earth 
grow by the assimilation of material substance. The 



262 HEAVEN / I l.D. 

body in each world is formed of substances homogeneous 
in their nature with its respective world. But they do 
not grow old there as here. They do not advance (in 
appearance) beyond the age of early manhood and 

womanhood, but retain forever the Freshness and vigor 
of that earl\' period. (See p. 227 for further remarks on 
this subject.) 

But all children are born into this world with a cer- 
tain hereditary evil taint. They inherit from foregone 
ancestry proclivities which, in their full development, 

incline them to all kinds of evil. This is what Sweden- 
bor^ r calls the natural or hereditary proprium, which he 
s is altogether infernal, and within or above which 
enerate soul receives from the Lord a new and 
heavenly proprium. This is what constitutes the new- 
man — the new creature — the new birth from Above. 
And do not those who die in infancy, it may be asked, 
take with them this natural proprium? If so, what be- 
comes of it? Does it never manifest itself in the world 
beyond ? And if it does, how are their hereditary ten- 
dencies to evil to be overcome or got rid of? 

It is true that children take with them into the other 
world all the evil proclivities with which they are born 
into this world. But their evils are never aroused or 
called into activity there, and are therefore never appro- 
priated; that is, the\- newer become their own by actual 
life. Their perverse tendencies gradually lose their 
strength by not being brought into exercise; for what- 
ever is endowed with life, loses its vital force in the de- 
gree that exer 1- denied it. This is a universal law. 
Every mental faculty and disposition as well as every 



V IN ///•..// . 

bodily i, acquires strength by habitual md 

loses it by long-continued rest. So with the 1; 

hildren in the other world; they remain qui- 
escent, and never become actual sins by 1 ultimated. 
And the principal reason is, that they an 
erned that their evil proclivities are never aroused. I 
sphere o\ love and wisdom by which th >ntinu- 
ally encompassed, exerts a restraining intlu 
evil tendencies, while it quickens into lite and action 
every innocent affection ; and so their hereditary evils 
are kept in a quiescent state. But in order to convince 
them what they are by inheritance, and to induce in 
them a becoming humility, they are at times remitted 
into their natural proprium, and kept in it until th 
and acknowledge their hereditary evil tendencies. Says 
Swedenborg : 

" I have conversed with angels concerning infants, and 
inquired whether they are free from evils, because tl 
have no actual evil, like adults. But 1 was told that 
they are equally in evil, — yea, that they, too, are nothing 
but evil ; but that they, like all the angels, are withheld 
from evil and held in good by the Lord, yet in such a 
way that it appears to them as if they were in good of 
themselves. Lest, therefore, infants who ha\ \vn 

up in heaven should entertain a false opinion o( them- 
selves, and imagine that the good which they p 
is from themselves and not from the Lord, tiny are 
sometimes let into the evils which they have received 
hereditarily, and are left in them until the) know, ac- 
knowledge and believe that their 1 is all from the 
Lord."— II. II. n. 342. 

.-Ml, we think, will admit the reasonableness of the 
great seer's disclosures on the whole subject undei con- 



264 eix 

sideration. Some say they are too beautiful to be true. 

Too beautiful to f Is any thin beautiful or too 

od for the Lord to do? Is not He the very perfec- 

1 of all beauty and all goodness? Did He not create 

man for heaven, and is it not his constant effort to bring 

all into the heavenly state? What is there, then, in the 
nature of the case, in the revealed character of God, in 
the laws of Divine Providence, or in the state of little 
children themsi to prevent their lot in the other 

world from being precisely as Swedenborg has revealed 
it? Nay, is not the Lord's infinite mercy a sure pledge 
that such and SO bl will be their condition? And 

does not his Word give assurance of the same? What 
affecting tenderness and love for little children did the 
Saviour exhibit, when lie called them to Him, put his 

rids upon them and blessed them ! And how plainly 
did lie declare their fitness for the realms above, when 
lie -aid: "Suffer the little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven" (Matt. xix. 14). Again, when He set a little 
child in the midst of the disciples, saying: "Verily I 
say unto you, except ye be converted and become as 
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven" (lb. xviii. 3). And again when He said: " For 
I say unto you that their angels in the heavens do always 
behold the Lice of my Father which is in the heaven 
(Ibid. v. 1 

It thus appears that Swedenborg's disclosures on this 
subject have the support of sacred Scripture as well 
of sound and enlightened reason. 

Then try them by that sure and infallible test which 



CIIL 






infinite V 

knew, lily infer, the inevitabl the 

rine on the minds of it 
that it lins no s bereaved parents when 

ith has >me little one from th 

It cannot suppr ., nor miti nor 

mir it to their n hearts. 

y, the thought which if the hare possibil- 

X their darling may be counted anion 

vr doomed to the torments of the damned 
— is calculated to wring their souls with indescribable 
anguish. And what a reproach does the Old doctrine 
cast upon the character of the infinitely wise and lov- 
ing Father! What a monster of injustice and cruelty 
does it make Him ! 

But the New doctrine as revealed through Sw '\cn- 
borg, while it accords with reason and Scripture and 
the unspeakable love and wisdom of God, is full of 
heavenly consolation for bereaved parents. It a 
that weeping mother as she bends for the last tim 
the pulseless body of her darling child, that her pre- 
cious one is still alive — brighter and happier, too, than 

r before ; that it has gone from the cold, dull earth 
to the warm, bright heavens; that it is already in the 
tender embrace of loving angels, and in due time will 
itself become an angel ; that as soon as it left its earthly 
tenement and its eyes opened on the spiritual world, it 
beheld an angel mother smiling on it, and eager to f 
it in her loving arms; that there this angel mother will 
love and tend it, and angel teachers instruct and guide 
it; that there it will play with other children who are 



HEAVEN REVEALEa 

all learning >od and wise; that there it will feci 

no pain, ami know no S , and experience no want; 

that there, enveloped in an atmosphere of sweetest love, 
it will 1 \vr shielded from all baleful influences, 

and never know the polluting touch of sin ; that every- 
thing which greets its senses there, will be full of in- 
struction and delight; that its eye will behold none but 

itiflll objects, and its ear listen only to love's sweet 
not 

And let that mother believe all this, as she surely 
will if she studies the revealings which it has pleased 
the Lord to make, and will she not derive support and 
comfort from it? Will she not find in it a balm for her 
wounded spirit? Will it not give her beaut)' for ashes, 
the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for 
the spirit of heaviness? Will she not dry her tears, 
suppress her sighs, chide her murmurs, and with hum- 
ble, cheerful trust look up, and say from the heart, 
"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; 
blessed be the name of the Lord." 

Nor is the instruction which this new revelation im- 
parts, less important than the comfort it affords. Not 
only does it enable us to give up our little ones with 
more resigned ami cheerful hearts at the call of the 
Heavenly Father, but it presses upon us the importance 
and instructing them aright while they 
remain with us. It shows us that, if we would train 
our children for heaven, we must endeavor to become 
heavenly-minded ourselves. We must have our affec- 
tions so fixed on heavenly things, that the love of 

, en will shine out in our looks, tones, words d\\d 



i ; for then we shall be able to lead our i hildi 
by tli ections the an 

> shield them a i ruptin 

and to surround them by such a swe t and nly 

atmosphere a s will tn n .ill their 

and stifl : all the bad. 

Such is the instruction which the new revelation <>n 
this subj< ' dnd emphasizes, by showing us in 

what way children are trained in heaven, ami the hap 
results thereby attained. It shows us how the growth 
of their hereditary evils may be checked, and thus ] 

nted from becoming actual sins. And how it enfor< 
the duty ^i striving to make the home of our children 
a little heaven on earth! How it entreats us to suffer 
nothing "that dcfileth orworketh abomination or maketh 
a lie," ever to enter there ! It tells us as in loud trumpet- 
tones, that all harsh and uncharitable judgments, all angry 
looks, resentful feelings and evil speaking, all impatien 
discontent, discord and moroseness should be banished 
thence as soul-destroying fiends; — that the domestic 
altar should be shielded from every taint of sin as from 
a wasting pestilence, — swept clean of evil thoughts and 
words as of the seeds of death; — that it should be 
and kept as the Holy of Holies where resteth 
the ark of God's covenant, where truth and purity and 
peace yo hand in hand, and all are encircled with religion 
and love as with beautiful shinin 

See how the Old and the New doctrine on this sul 
appear, when placed side by side ! Look at them in the 
light of Scripture and n and the revealed character 

of the Heavenly Father. Which has the stamp of truth 



268 ///:./ / EN RE 1 7. . / 1 1, D. 

m< >t legibly imprinted on it? Which looks like the 
of Divine Wisdom, and which like the work 
of men's hands? Do not the character and obvious 
tendency of the New revealings, clearly authenticate 
their heavenly origin ? 



XXII. 
SEX AND MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN 

AM( )NG all of Swedenborg's voluminous works, there 
is not one which proves more conclusively his Di- 
vine illumination, than his treatise on Conjugial Love. 
1 lad any man written that book without having his mind 
opened to the light of heaven in an unusual degree, it 
would have been the miracle of miracles. In no other 
work ever published can there be found such exalted 
wisdom touching the character and relation of the sex 
In no other has the subject of marriage been discussed 
so profoundly, or its true nature and origin been unfolded 
so clearly, or so just and elevated views of it been pre- 

ited — views calculated to produce such a deep con- 
viction of the sacredness of this relation. We cannot 
conceive how a tolerably fair mind can read this work 
understandingly, without being made purer, wiser and 
better by it ; nay, without being convinced that the truths 
here unfolded are such as no human mind could ever 
have reached by its own unaided efforts. 

Hitherto the proper relation of the sexes has been but 
imperfectly understood ; and even professing- Christians 



have entertained extremely low, not 

of the whole sul f mari illy 

a union oi' bodie ils; 

1 it, then i relati >n b 

clusivelyto the natural world — 

the idea of anything like marriage in the 
1 fer after. The moment a spiritual i«" idmitted into 

the thought respecting marriage, and anything like a 
uni conceded to be possible, that moment 

it is seen that the marriage relation must exist in the 
world beyond, or wherever souls exist. 

On account of the low and merely natural viev 
marriage which has been generally held and taught, 
people have entered into this relation from low and 
earthly motives ; and innumerable evils have been the 
result. And before the evils resulting from a low and 
false view of marriage can be avoided, people must ob- 
tain a higher and truer view of it. The men and women 
of Christendom need to have their ideas on this subject 
elevated and spiritualized. They need to have the insti- 
tution lifted up from, the earth, to be shown the spiritual 
nature of the marriage relation, the spiritual uses it v. 
meant to subserve, and the spiritual considerations from 
which it should be entered into, if they would realize 
the blessings it was meant to confer. There is no deeper 
need of Christendom to-day, however little it may gen- 
erally be felt. And it was to satisfy this need, that the 
Lord has revealed through Swedenborg the heavenly 
doctrine concerning marriage, or the view which the 
angels take of this relation. And as the love from 
which marriages in heaven spring, is the foundation or 
23* 



270 HEAVEN / , i.i:n. 

parent of all other heavenly loves, so the nearer mar- 
riages on earth approach in their nature to those in 
heaven, the more of heaven will there be in the hearts 
of men; — the more full}- will the Lord's kingdom come 
and his will be done on earth as it is done in the heavens. 
But are there really marriages in heaven? We will 
first hear Swedenborg's answer to this question, and 
then subject it to a careful examination in the light of 
son and known facts; and finally, will explain the 
passage of Scripture which is commonly supposed to 
h a different doctrine on the subject. 

11 I leaven is from the human race ; therefore the angels 
of heaven are of both sexes. And because it was or- 
dained from creation that the woman should be for the 
man and the man for the woman, and thus that each 
should be the other's, and because this love is innate in 
both, it follows that there are marriages in heaven as 
well as on earth. But marriages in heaven are very 
different from those on earth. 

" Marriage in heaven is the uniting of two into one 
mind. The mind consists of two parts, one of which 
is called the understanding, the other the will. When 
these two parts act in unit}', they are then called one 
mind. In heaven the husband acts that part which is 
called the understanding, and the wife that which is 
called the will. When this union which is of the inte- 
rior^, descends into the inferiors which are of the body, 
it is perceived and felt as love. This love is conjugial 
love. 

"Hence it is evident that conjugial love derives its 
origin from the union of two into one mind. This is 
called in heaven cohabitation ; and it is said that they 
an- not two but one. Therefore two married partners 
in heaven are not called two but one angel." — 11. II. n. 



VRIAG1 

The fund tal question to be fir * idered 

whether the distinction of sex is pr< in the other 

rid, D man remain a man and a woman rem n 

a woman in the 1 1 } I >r do they :n- 

dei The ven 

of enlighten ther subjects, is 

clearly in agreement with Swedenb teachii 

su] ncople to be of a different gender in the oti 

>m what they were in this, were ; >us 

in the le. The preservati 

tial to the maintenance of his identity. If it were pos- 
sible to change one's sex, the moment the change . 
effected he would cease to be the same p 

It is man's soul or spirit that is immortal. This 
we have repeatedly said, is the real man. And when 
the spirit leaves the body, it remains unchanged. It 
takes with it all its God-given instincts — all its innate 
affections, tendenci mts and appetencies. The dif- 

ference between man and woman in their physical struc- 
ture, is apparent to all. The latter is usually smaller, 
weaker, of more delicate features, softer skin, and fairer 
complexion than the former. They differ, too, in their 
manners, gestures and tones of voice. Yet even as to 
their bodies it is plain they were made for each other, — 
that the\' belong together, and are parts of one and the 
same whole. So that, physically regarded, neither is 
complete without the other, because incapable of fulfill- 
ing all the ends of his earthly existence. The Croat 
design is plainly written upon their physical organism, 
which is, that each is for the other — each but a part of 
a perfect whole. 



2J2 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

But the boil\- is only the manifested form of the soul 
or spirit within it. It therefore corresponds to the soul 

in every particular, being perfectly adapted to all its 
wants and capabilities. It thence follows that there must 
be a difference between the souls of the two sexes cor- 
responding precisely to that between their bodies. For 
the logical inference from the great doctrine of corre- 
spondence is, that the masculine body must correspond 
to the masculine soul and the feminine body to the fem- 
inine soul. 

And as a matter of fact, we find it is so. No truth is 
more obvious than this: that there exists an innate dif- 
ference in the mental constitution of the sexes, just as 
wide and as strongly marked as that observable in their 
physical organism. Their souls differ precisely as do 
their bodies. For although we sometimes meet with 
manish women and womanish men, they are the excep- 
tions and not the rule. We find them mentally no oft- 
ener than physically so. In general the feminine soul 
differs from the masculine, as woman's body differs from 
man's. But one is not superior to the other; only they 
are different. There would be as little propriety in 
speaking of the mental superiority of man to woman or 
of woman to man, as there would be in speaking of the 
physical superiority of the heart to the lungs or the 
lungs to the heart. The truth is they belong together, 
and are adapted to each other in their whole constitu- 
tion, mental and physical. One is the complement of 
the other. When "they twain are one flesh," the man 
is complete — a whole man. Hence we read in Genesis 
that God created man in his own image; "male and 



fem ted He them, and I 1 them, and 

///< V.dam/ 1 that is, man — for this is what 

in the Hebrew means. Accordingly Sued 
that "in heaven two married partners are not called I 
«>ne angel." — 1 1. 1 1, n 
iritually viewed, then, man and woman diffe 
the will and understanding, or the heart and lungs, and 
are similarly adapted each to the other. The masculine 
il is preeminently intellectual, and the feminine pre- 
eminently emotional. Or in other words, man is born 
into the affection of knowing, understanding and being 
and woman into the love of man's wisdom, not 
in herself but in the man, and consequently into the 1 
of conjoining herself with the intellect or wisdom of the 
man. Accordingly Swedenborg says : 

44 The woman feels the delights of her love in the 

wisdom of the man, because this is its receptacle; and 
when love finds this receptacle corresponding to itself, 
it is in its enjoyments and delights." — C. L. n. i v 

And precisely this difference in their mental con 
tution, is indicated by the physical structure 
man and woman respectively. For the masculine f<>rm 
— being coarser, stronger, and more angular — is a form 
of the intellect; and the feminine form — being (air 

re delicate and beautiful — is a form of affection. 
that man is wholly destitute of affection, and woman 
intellect; but viewed in relation to each other, their 
minds are thus characterized — man bein Eminently 

intellectual, and woman preeminently emotional or af- 
fectional. Love is the native element of woman's soul, 
as truth is that of man's. And so the stand re- 

S 



274 HEAVEN REVEALED, 

lated like love and wisdom, will and understanding, or 
heart and lungs. And their mental difference is not 
the result of education or circumstances. It is inborn. 
It from their very creation. It belongs to their 

ill's constitution, and must therefore continue while 
the soul endures. 

Now, the sexes being thus constituted, mutually de- 
sire conjunction with each other. The masculine soul 
instinctively yearns for union with some feminine soul, 
and the feminine for union with some masculine. And 
until this union is attained, each is conscious of an un- 
satisfied want; each has a sense of incompleteness — 
feels a lack of wholeness to his being. And the reason 
IS, that the Creator has so constituted the human soul 
that no single one IS complete or whole in itself, but 
only in union with another. 

And because of this inborn constitution of the sexes, 
and because every soul takes with it into the other 
world all its innate characteristics, wants and appe- 
tencies, therefore man and woman must mutually desire 
to be joined in marriage in the great Hereafter, and 
marriages must exist in heaven. For the angels being 
of both sexes, and endowed with an ardent longing for 
union with each other, would be unhappy if such union 

re denied them. And as the conjunctive' tendency 
was implanted in the sexes by God himself, it would 
be most unreasonable to suppose that its gratification 
would be denied in that highest state to which human 
beings are made capable of attaining — that is, in 
.en. 

Besides, the masculine and feminine soul being com- 



XRRIAGE IX II 






plemcnta of each other, belong together from ci 
ither by it 

union w half; just 

bnn its appr 

nic union with the oth 
therefore, n ry to the completeness of the a 

ould be a :. without un 

:h some other that is the complement of himself. 
An rything in heav more perfect than on 

rth — th of the rc innocent, 

pure and exalted than those of men— therefore we 
should expect the conjugial principle wou! I : there 

in greater strength and purity than on earth, and the 

rriage relation be found in its highest perfect: 
The heavenly life being the highest life, where but in 
heaven should we look for the best illustration of the 
truly conjugial affection and relation ? Where t 
should we expect to find man s so blissful or so 
perfect ? 

We have said that man and woman, like the h: 
and heart, belong together as parts of one and the same 
whole. But as no two hearts and no two lun?s are 

r precisely alike, so no two hearts can ever be 
actly suited to one and the same pair of lungs. It fol- 
lows, therefore, that only one man and one woman c 
from creation, be perfectly adapted to each other 
parts of one and the same whole. Hence "the Lord 
provides that conjugial pairs shall be born." C.L 
Hence a true marriage — such a union of souls 
in heaven — can take place only between two individuals 
who were created for each other. 



2,6 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

That there arc marriages in heaven may further ap- 
pear, if we consider the highest use of marriage here 

on earth. Its first use, like the first use of houses, gar- 
ments and all material things, is natural and temporal. 
But its principal and highest use is spiritual and eternal. 
This is obvious from the fact, that the most unhappy 
marriages are those where there is the least spiritual 
affinity between the parties — the least approach to a 
union of souls; and where the deepest want of the 
spirit in this relation, therefore, is not met. Outward 
circumstances may be of regal splendor; honor, wealth 
and station may crown the wedded pair; but if there 
be no internal and spiritual union, the bonds of external 
marriage will be felt as a heavy burden grievous to be 
borne — all the heavier and more grievous, perhaps, for 
the splendor of the outward life. Neither of the parties 
knowing aught of the sweet peace and comfort of love, 
they will feel no support from, and no joy or delight in, 
each other. On the contrary, they will both feel an un- 
satisfied want, a corroding canker, a gnawing worm, a 
wasting consumption at the heart; and nothing but a 
firm faith and well-grounded religious principle, will 
prevent them from fretting life away in anxious longing 
for a more congenial mate. 

So deeply and so obviously is man's immortal part 
involved in this sacred relation ! So much does the soul 
demand for itself in the marriage relation even on earth ! 
And s< itly does it suffer, too, when defrauded of its 

just demands! And so egrcgiously do those parents 
err, and such a fearful weight of responsibility do they 
nine, who undertake to decide for their sons and 



dai 's what sort I allian shall 

m ! And what them- 

nnnit, who, when about to enter into thi 
•i, make mere external and worldly 

ther than the deep and enduring wants of the soul, * 
basis of th< ir ch< ■ 

arly, then, do marriages here on earth, be they 
or unfortunate, that the soul ply in- 

volved \n this relation ; — that it lias a want herein which 

thing else but union with some kindred soul can fully 

tisfy. And because it is a soul's want, it must endure 
so long as the soul endures; and in heaven, therefore, 
it cannot fail of its full gratification. 

Observe, further, the spiritual uses of marriage on 
earth, in the connate character and obvious mental in 
of the two sexes. Man is preeminently a form of the 
intellect, and in mind as well as bod)-, is comparatively 
coarse, harsh, severe and angular. Alone, or disjoined 
from woman, he is like faith separate from charity, or 
truth apart from good, which Swedenborg says i- repre- 
sented in the spiritual world as something strong, pow- 
erful, hard and irresistible, at the sight of which good 
spirits are terrified. lie, therefore, needs the softening, 
refining, mellowing" influence of woman's gentler heart, 
precisely as truth or faith needs the softening and sweet- 
ening influence of charity. And woman being pre- 
eminently a form of affection, is comparatively weak, 
tender and delicate in mind as well as in body. Alone, 
or apart from man, she is like charity separate from faith, 
or like love without wisdom. She, therefore, needs the 
strengthening, supporting, guiding influence of man's 
24 



2 ; 8 ///■:. / / '/ N R 1. i '/:. i L ed. 

intellect. Man's intellect alone is cold — like the clear 
cold light of winter; it needs the warmth of woman's 
love to quicken in him the seeds of thought And \vo- 
man's heart alone is warm — like the warmth of a dark- 
ened chamber; it needs the light of man's intellect to 
enable it to impart health, strength and verdure. 

And thus the soul of each is perfected by union with 
the other. Man's head is warmed by woman's heart — 
liis harsh, stern features rounded and made beautiful by 
woman's love. .And woman's heart is enlightened by 
man's head — her tender and delicate soul supported and 
made strong by the Strength of man's intellect. Thus 
the two whom God has joined together — whose souls 
lie has so constituted that they are " no more twain but 
one flesh " — are made all the more perfect, more human, 
more truly and completely one, by the union wc call 
marriage. "Male and female created He them, and 
called their name Adam." 

Now if — as the old theologies have taught — there are 
no marriages in heaven, either the angels must be less 
perfect than they would be with marriages, or the dis- 
tinguishing mental characteristics of the sexes must be 
so entirely changed there, that each will be whole by 
himself alone, and will have no need of conjunction with 
the other. 

And how clearly and impressively are the spiritual 
uses of marriage sometimes revealed here on earth! — 
A fond and devoted wife sees the partner of her bosom 
pursuing a downward and criminal course — plunging 
deeper and deeper into vice and infamy — gradually 
blinding his intellect, benumbing his moral sense, de- 



str in mhood And h >w that w il 

her erring husband! How sh > him art, 

and th . of her she pi * ith 

him ^n bended kn Lrful eyes, in 

— only as love i And ho he plea 

with God and heaven in his behalf ! How tsand 

watches and prays- how she bears and suffers and I 

gives until s y time ar 

and suffer and for And sec, too, what triumphs 

she sometimes achieves! — the salvation of a Wl 

and sinking soul ! 

Can this deep, mighty love which God ha- placed in 
woman's heart, which can work such miracles of heal 
here below, which has such power on earth to soften, 
subdue and bless, and which, from its very nature, so 
yearns for an intellect to cling to and guide it — can such 
love perish when the body dies ? Will there be no sph 
for its activity, no use and no reciprocation of it, in heaven ? 
Then woman as woman cannot live in heaven. And if 
woman lives not there, what man having within him the 
soul of a man, would not say th.it heaven would be no 
heaven to him. 

Again : the eternity of conjugial love, and the coi 
quent existence of marriages in heaven, may be reason- 
ably inferred from the fact that consorts who have lived 
together happily on earth, internally desire th.it this 
relation may be continued in the world beyond. And 
it is not the vicious and degraded in whom this cle 

Strongest These know nothing of the pure deli, 
of marriage; they have little or no respect for its sa< red 
obligations here, and, of course, think" and care but little 



l_f_~ 



_i:;i--: : : : -: :: 
n f t m trrC : - t: 



of the cooj jm&LJ tie, aad 

: : ... rt z >.;... n i-; 
: is aeaicst dot of the 



1 -Ms of 
ziz tteniti - 

z : zz -.zz : : 

- , i . 



: " lit t:»_L_: :: n: 

■I anladf bag far 

rising to 
I: 



:: 



-.: 



with lit 

:r:: - 



fare if the 









v : .. : :-t - .:' 






ID 

they> -, 

. " :: i . ii i»-:rit".vf i ly 






heaven, the worthless spirit was removed *~f 
cast down ; wh was done, the idea of eternal 

ned to them, from which they were 
gladness of heart, and most tenderly em- 
braced ea 

•vhose faith and per ce pt i ons on a subject of 
nature ar .orth; jsc of the vicious and 

profligate, or those of the pore and good ? So sur 

— God who heareth and 

die deep though unuttered prayer of 

children on - up springing from 

a fa ant which his own boundless love has im- 

— 3t be all unheeded. And if their prayer 

:eard and heeded, there surely must be marriaj:- in 

Once more : Who are those that lore the bands of 

r::.rr ;..:: r. :: -: .r.:_r.5-. '.y : '. .. : :::.:::::.:: - .11.1 

:h the highest delight, and find in it the purest 

and most abundant j e carnal-minded and 

wh th God is closest and humblest, and who 

with the greatest fid. 

~ e * < — r : . i : 

- 

;h the vicious can never know. Therefore they 

: best And the farther they advance in the re- 

he more faithfully they do the Heavenly 

will, the nearer they approach to that innocent, 

pure and arhich the angels are. the more 

- 



and the higher and purer delight do they find in mar- 
riage. If this be so — and we know it is — the conclusion 
is irresistible that there must be marriages in heaven ; 
and not only so, but that this relation must exist there 
in its greatest perfection, and the delights thence result- 
in- be the .sweetest and most abundant. And we should 
also infer that the farther the angels advance in the di- 
vine life, the more perfectly would the souls of consorts 
there be united, and the fuller and more perfect be their 
ble-sedness. Accordingly Swedenborg says : 

41 II was shown me what is the manner of the progress 
of the delights arising from conjugial love, this way to- 
ward heaven and that way toward hell. The progress 
of the delights toward heaven was into blessednesses 
and happinesses continually multiplying, till theybecame 
innumerable and ineffable; and as the progression was 
more interior, it was into blessednesses and happinesses 
still more innumerable and ineffable, till it came even to 
the' essential heavenly blessednesses and happinesses of 
the inmost heaven, or the heaven of innocence ; and this 
by a most perfectly free principle, for all freedom is of 
love, consequently the most perfect freedom is of con- 
jugial love which is essentially celestial. Afterwards 
was shown the manner of the progress of the delights 
of conjugial love toward lull, in that they remove them- 
selves by degrees from heaven, and this also from an 
apparently free principle, till at length there are scarce 
any remains of a human principle in them. The deadly 
and infernal principle in which the)' close cannot be 
described."— A. C. n. 2744. 

In conclusion : — We have thus far examined Sweden- 
borg's revelation on this subject, in the light of reason 
and known facts. Here, as on other subjects, he has 



M. I A A / . / ( i t I • * i 



ken qu try to th< 

doin, it is true ; but it is equally true- that be ha 
quite m accordance with the di< tat ;hes1 i 

son and th ound mental ph >hy. 

\\ that marriages in heaven 

from the nature, constitution and want- of tl J, and 

from the obvious fact that each one pr< wn 

identity in the Hereafter, and takes with him into the 

Other world all that appertains to his immortal part — all 

his dominant thoughts, inclinations, dispositions and 
feelings. For marriage is a necessity of our human na- 
ture in its highest and most perfect state. It is one ol 
the deepest wants both o( man and woman— one that 
is woven, as it were, into the very fibres of our spiritual 
as well as natural bfeing. Upon the whole constitution 
with which God has endowed human beings, lie lias 
written his great and beneficent design in this particular, 
as in characters of living light. And we may rest as- 
sured that He has nowhere written a word to the con- 
trary ; for lie never contradicts Himself. 

Thus do the great Swede's disclosures on this, as on 
all other subjects connected with the Hereafter, rest 
securely on the constitution of our whole nature, physi- 
cal and spiritual, and are seen to be in perfect a Dent 
with the wants, tendencies, capabilities, and everlasting 
laws of the human soul. Therefore they must needs 
agree with the teachings of God's Word; for this, I 
is adapted to the wants of our spiritual nature, and con- 
tains in its bosom the laws of the human spirit. And 
because his pneumatology builds itself on Mich a I 
foundation, therefore its truth is undeniable, and must 



284 HE A VEN RE l '/:. 1 1 ED. 

endure SO long as the human soul endures, and its laws 
and tendencies remain what they are. 

But the Bible, says an objector, teaches that "in the 
i trrection they neither marry nor are given in mar- 
Matt, xxii. 30). How is this language to be 
understood, and how is its teaching to be reconciled 
with that of Swedenborg? Our next chapter will be 
devoted to the consideration of this question. 



XXIII. 

SEX AND MARRIAGE IX HEAVEN—SCRIPTURE 

TESTIMONY. 

THAT there should be marriages in heaven, is 
something so reasonable in itself, and withal so 
desirable by those who have any true idea of the spir- 
itual nature of true marriage, that Christians in gen- 
eral would readily believe it, did it not seem contrary 
to the explicit teachings of Scripture. Their highest 
reason favors the idea; the distinguishing characteris- 
tics of the masculine and feminine soul, seem to neces- 
sitate the relation in the Hereafter; and the deepest 
want of our nature and the best feelings of the regener- 
ate heart, encourage the hope that it may be as the 
great seer has revealed. Yet they cannot accept Swe- 
denborg's teaching on this subject, because of the 
Lord's words to the unbelieving Sadducees, quoted at 
the conclusion of the last chapter. 

That pious minds should, in view of the Scripture re- 



AY/'/Y K 

ferrcd toward tl 

ie — a repugnance .ill the ion 

heir reverence for the Scripture- : surpi 

And when opposition to any of the 

such pious gr< tund 
that they are contrary to the Wo the 1 we 

profound respect for it We Maine n 
for his sition to the doctrines promi I by Sv. 

den while he honestly believes that they contra- 

dict the Bible. We would not have a | 

rd he teaches — nay, would counsel him n t to accept 
it— is it seems to him central'}' to the teach ill 

of the Divine Word. 

Yet we would uri^e all to remember this: that the 
Lord reveals Himself in his Works as well as in his 
Word; that both these Volumes are alike his, and 
therefore alike sacred ; and that his laws, from which- 
ever of these sources ascertained, are equally divine, 
and equally entitled to our reverence. We would 1 
them further to bear in mind, that men are just as liable 
to misunderstand and misinterpret one of these Vol- 
umes as the other. There is nothing to secure us al 
lutely against misunderstanding either ; and the pro 
are abundant that both have often been misinterpret 
Whenever these two Volumes, therefore, Nature and 
Revelation, seem in conflict, we may be sure that the 
conflict is only apparent, and arises from our misunder- 

ndinLj one or the other; and it is the part of v. 
dom to endeavor to ascertain which it is that we have 
misunderstood. As God's Word may help us to s 
and understand Him in his works, so the revelation of 



286 HEAVEN / '//■./). 

his will in his works may often aid us to a right under- 
nding of his Word. He is our Creator; and some of 
his purposes concerning us arc written upon the hu- 
man soul as legibly as they could be written in a book 

or on tables of stone, and as easy to be misunderstood. 

And among his purposes thus plainly written, is that in 

ard to the conjugial relation and its existence in the 

world beyond. A marriage union of the sexes, not 

merely in this world but in heaven likewise, is legibly 
inscribed on the whole nature and constitution of man 
and woman, by God's own finger. 

And now let us sec if the passage in Matthew (xxii. 
30) really teaches anything contrary to this — as many 
Christians think it does, and as at first sight, indeed, it 
appears to teach. 

The question which the unbelieving Sadducecs had 
put to our Lord on the occasion referred to, shows that 
the\' had no idea of marriage as an internal and spirit- 
ual relation — a soul union. Their views of it were of 
the lowest kind. They thought of it as a relation 
which might exist between one woman and any num- 
of men ; and vice versa. The idea of an eternal 
adaptation of one man to one woman and only one, 

ems never to have entered their minds. It was not, 
therefore, of real marriage that they were thinking 
when the}' put to our Lord the question : "Therefore 
in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the 
? M for, as Swedenborg says, "there are no mar- 
elsewhere than in heaven; but beneath heaven 
[that is, among those in low or external states] there 



ily nuptial < which 

. I .. I! 

that tl Idu- 

• thinking, when tl. 

>ut the WOOl t had been i! 

brethren. And t! 

to the thought in their un 

he truth. It I [e h 

of which you are think; . but only an 

• :rnal or nuptial connection. And as this is wl. I 
tln> i inqu 

And in reply. I ' 11 you th< . h mar 

the great Hereafter. Then and there, or in the resur- 
rection, they neither marry nor are given in marria 
accord f this relation ; but are as the 

>d in 1: titutionally and organic- 

ally each to the other, as pa ad the 

same who 1 

the Sadducees, therefor 
ls an an the thought in their mind 

tru literal But his w> il lia\ 

meaning that of the letter. "The 

that I speak unto you," 1 iritandarcli 

(John vi. 63. 1 

A slight examination of the in Matthew 

her with the context, will show us that reference 

especial! pi ritual mar: or the 

union of good and trutli in human minds, and th 
sequent conjunction of such minds with the Lord. This 
is the spiritual or heavenly m ; of man aid 

the meaning which th .lach to the term when it OC- 



//. V REVEALED. 

curs in Scripture, who understand the Lord's words ac- 
ding to their spiritual sen That such is the kind 
of marriage more particularly referred to in his reply to 
the Sadducees, is plain from the context. Before pro- 
pounding their question they referred to what Moses 
taught respecting marriage with a deceased brother's 
wife — a plain matter of fact, so plain that it could not he 
misunderstood if its literal sense alonevrere the sense in- 
tended. Yet the first words in the Lord's reply, were: 
" Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of 
God." But the\' did know the Scriptures in their literal 
sense, and they understood the passage in Moses about 
marriage merely in that sense. But because the literal 
is not the true way of understanding the Scriptures, and 
because the\- knew nothing of the true spiritual signifi- 
cation of marriage, therefore the Lord says to them, 
" Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." 

at the commencement of the chapter which 
ords this conversation, the kingdom of heaven is com- 
pared to a marriage; and all who are invited to become 
subjects of this kingdom, are represented as railed to the 
mat And in the Revelation we read: "Blessed 

are they that are called to the marriage supper of the 
Lamb." The Lord, too, is often called Husband and 
Bridegroom in the Word ; and the church, composed of 
all who become spiritually conjoined to Him by a life of 
dience to his commandments, is called his Wife and 
Bride. Thus in Isaiah: "Thy Maker is thy Husband; 
the L<>rd of hosts IS his name." (liv. 5.) And in Mat- 
thew: " Can the children of the bridechamber mourn so 
as the Bridegroom is with them?" And in the 



I 

yho talked with ] 
hither, and I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb's Wil 

ul in the n the 

Bride is — th Holy Jem 'rue church of the 

'. " And he carried me away in the spirit I 
I high mountain, and sh< me that 

Holy T Jem, descending out of h d." 

And "ii another oc i the seer heard the v \ a 

great multitude in I ind 

be glad, and give honor to Him ; for the mai the 

1 imb is come, and his Bride hath made herself ready." 

Do not such pa that marriage, when n 

tioned in Scripture, has a spiritual meaning? And that 
it signifies that conjunction of the Lord with his people, 
which is elsewhere spoken of as the reciprocal indwell- 
ing of the Lord in man and man in the Lord. And this 
takes place in proportion as we receive from Him love 
and wisdom, or in the degree that we learn truth, and, 
through religious obedience to its requirements, cleanse 
our hearts of all selfish and evil loves ; for in that de- 

e our interiors are opened, and we receive an influx 
of the Lord's life — we appropriate, as it were, the v 
Divine substance, the Lord's own flesh and blood. 
Hence He says: " lie that eateth my flesh and drinketh 
my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him." The Lor 

h is the good of his divine love, and his blood is the 
truth of his divine wisdom. 

idvances in the aerate life, truths in his 

understanding become married to their correspond 
goods in the will. And this union of truths with goods 



290 HEAVEN RE VEALED. 

in the mind, is the spiritual or heavenly marriage ; and 

in the degree that it takes place, the man is brought into 
f marriage union with his Maker. He is in the 
Lord, and the Lord is in him; and he delights to do the 
will of the Lord. In the degree, therefore, that this 
heavenly marriage takes place in any mind, the kingdom 
of heaven comes to that mind. 

This union or marriage of good and truth in human 
minds, comes from the marriage of Divine Love and 
Divine Wisdom in the Lord; for these in Him are uni- 
ted like heat and light in the sun. And they proceed 

one from 1 lim, and are received by the angels as one. 
For the angels have no will contrary to the Lord's. 
They love to do what lie loves to have them do. Thus 
they live in marriage union with Him, having in them- 
selves — and this, from J lim — the heavenly marriage of 
1 and truth. 

But the state of the unrcgenerate man is far otherwise. 
Ilis will is opposed to the will of the Lord. Good and 
truth do not exist in marriage union in his mind. Kvil 
instead of good loves are in his will, which are opposed 
to the truths in his understanding. He docs not love 
to do what the truth teaches him he ought to do. And 
before he can come into the heavenly state, he must 
ird and slum as a sin against God the indulgence of 
every inclination which the truth condemns. Whenever 
shun the indulgence of any evil as sin, that evil is 

idually removed, and the opposite good affection 

takes its place. The truth in our understanding which 

d and condemned the evil, is thus married to its 

correspond^ d in the will. .And by a succession 



h mai : k of r ation advan 

and the h ly stai !. But it is 

only the truths which we i y while h 

on earth, that become married to goods in the will, and 

SO remain with us permanently. Truths that a; 

and v / obeyed, acquire no perman p.* ibode in the soul. 

They may seem to he ours, hut th not until th 

of the life — until they I down and 

obeyed, and thu me n m >ted, as it were, in the natural 

• of the mind. We have no real interior affecti 

for them, and when we come fully into the state of our 
interiors, as we shall in the other world, they will be 
taken from us, for we shall then deny and reject them. 
Accordingly it is written: "Whosoever hath not, from 
him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have." 
(Luke viii. 1 8.) Truths that have been disregarded and 
dis< 1 by us in the life oh earth, cannot be married 

to their appropriate goods in the world beyond ; n rcan 
the good and delightful things of heaven which are born 
of such marriage, be then and there given us. And this 
is the meaning of these words of the Lord, und< ; 
in their spiritual sense: "For in the resurrection they 
neither marry nor are given in marriage." 

We thus see that this Scripture, rightly understood, 
is by no means opposed to the new doctrine c< ling 

marriages in heaven. Even its literal sense, rightly in- 
terpreted, teaches nothing to the contrary. For th 
are no such nuptial connections in heaven as the Saddu- 
cees thought of as marriage, and about which, as the 
Lord perceived, they inquired of Him. 

Then there are other p s of Scripture, which, 



HEAVEN REVEALED. 

understood in their literal sense, clearly favor the doc- 
trine taught by Swedenborg. As that, "a man shall 

leave his lather and mother and cleave unto his wife; 
and the}' twain shall be one flesh." (Gen. ii. 24.) And 
these words of the Lord in answer to the Pharisee 
11 1 lave ye not read that 1 le who made them at the be- 
ginning, made them male and female? And said, For 
this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall 
cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh. 
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What, 
therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put 
asunder." (Matt. xix. 5-7.) 

We are here taught that man and woman were de- 
ned for each other from their very creation ; that they 
are adapted, each to the other, and so joined together 
as parts of one and the same whole, by the Creator 
Himself. And it surely would not be said of beings 
created to live forever, that God had joined them to- 
g-ether, if there were no joining of their immortal part 
— no mutual and organic adaptation of soul to soul. 
The beings that God joins together, must be organically 
fitted to each other as parts of one whole, and must 
therefore be joined for the full term of their existence. 
A man and a woman may be joined in an external union 
— a semblance of marriage — agreeable to human laws; 
and may separate in a few months for lack of mutual 
love, or of the proper organic adaptation of soul to soul. 
Can it be said of such that they were joined together 
by God ? Every one can see that this would be charg- 
ing the Creator with folly. Then extend the time, and 
suppose the parties joined in an external marriage for 



. K 

i, twenty, or fifty j md then I 

the proper constitutional adaptation the 

ould it with any greater propriety b i said I 
they were joined by God? No: Man may join 

ho are internall) itionally and 

mutually repugnant, and do not really b 
just as they may join truth with evil, h with hell 

in their own minds. But all such alliances must, fr 
their very nature, be sooner or later dissolved. I 
those whom God join :ther, are and mu 

in the inmost ground of their being. And if < I to 

live forever, they must (if joined by Him) be join 
for a day, but for the whole term of their existence ; and 
so joined as, of twain, to make one flesh — one whole 
mind or person. 

u Marriage in heaven/ 1 says Swedenborg, " is the 

conjoining of two into one mind. . . . Two man 
partners in heaven, therefore, are not called two but 
one angel." — II. H. n. 367. 

"The most perfect and noble human form, is when 

two forms become one by marriage, thus when two 
fleshes become one flesh, according to creation. The 
mind of the man is then elevated into superior light, 
and the mind of the wife into superior heat; and th 
the\' germinate, blossom and fructify, as trees in the 
time of spring." — C. L. n. 201. 

This, we see, is in perfect agreement with what we 

read in Genesis (v. I, 2): " In the day that God ci 

man, in the likeness of God created He him, male and 

female created He them, and blessed them and called 

their name Adam [or man]." It requires both the male 
25* 



2 | HEAVEN RE VEALED. 

and female to make the adatn — the man — that is the 
wliole man. Therefore God called the name of the two 
conjoined — the male and female — their name, adam. 
And the Adam, including both sexes, is said to have 
been in the likeness of God. The reason is, that the fe- 
male was created to be an image more especially of the 
Divine Love, and the male to be an image more espe- 
cially of the Divine Wisdom. And as the union of Di- 
vine Love and Divine Wisdom is eternal, the conclu- 

• n is irresistible that the marriage of the male and 
female, whose union images that of these two principles 
in the Divine, must also be eternal. 

We are further taught by the Lord, that u fof this 
cause" that is, because we were created male and fe- 
male, " shall a man leave father and mother, and shall 
cleave to his wife;" which shows us that the conjugial 
relation is to endure when the parental, or the tie that 
binds parent to child, has ceased to exist. And endure 
how long? How long shall a man cleave unto his 
wife? Clearly so long as their distinctive natures re- 
main what they are, and there exists such a mutual and 
anic adaptation of soul to soul, that they twain, by 
cleaving to each other, are no longer two but one. 

The Bible, therefore, teaches that man and woman 
were created for union in heaven, as truly as it teaches 
that they were created for each other and belong to- 
ller during their earthly sojourn. And if it teaches 
that marriage on earth was designed by Him wdio made 
US, it teaches with equal clearness that it was intended 
for man's highest or heavenly state, and that its dura- 
tion will be coterminous with that of the soul itself. 



B 



x: 

. fUGIAL L0\ 

IT marriages in hi edenborg tells 

quite different from man on earth. 'I 

like everything else there, more interior and p 
an d cor ntly more blissful. The love th 

in „ mion two parties in th< 

the true conjugial love. And this is not m< ial 

..which "m itself is impure, and is felt by natural 
men and even by the lower animals. It is a pun 
itual affection. Souls in heaven are drawn her 

and held together by a love of what is real! d and 

true— of what there is of the Lord in souls. A female 
angel looks and longs for wisdom in the male, for this 
is what delights her most. And in proportion as i 
male angel embodies, the particular kind of wisdom 
with which she is most delighted, she loves him. And 
she loves him because of the Lord's wisdom which she- 
perceives in him, and with which her soul yearns for 
conjunction. And the male angel looks and Ion 
love in the female, pure, innocent, tender, gentle, like 
the Lord's own love, for this is what delights him m 
And he loves her in the degree that she embodies in 
herself the special kind of love that agrees with his 
special kind and degree of wisdom. And so it is the 
Lord'-; love which he perceives in her, and which is the 
life and soul of his wisdom, that is to him the peculiar 

attraction. 

Thus consorts in heaven love only what there i I 



296 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

the Lord in each other. And the more there is of the 
Lord in both — the more the man's understanding is 

enlight by his wisdom and the more the woman's 

heart is warmed by his love, so much the more do 
they love and delight in each other, and the closer, 
therefore, is their union. 

Moreover, conjugial love as it exists in heaven, is all 
from the Lord. It has its origin in the divine marriage 
of love and wisdom in Him ; and thence it descends into 
angelic minds, and into minds of men who are nearest 
like the angels. This is clearly perceived by consorts 
in heaven ; and they also perceive that the more faith- 
fully they do the will of the Lord, the more are their 
minds opened to the reception of his love and wisdom, 
and the more do they experience of their heavenly de- 
nts in the love the}' feel for each other. And it is 
given them further to perceive that conjugial love corre- 
sponds to the marriage of the Lord with his church ; for 
as husband and wife in heaven mutually love each other, 
so the Lord loves the church, his Bride, and forever wills 
that it should love and be conjoined with Himself, her 
1 lusband. 

It thus appears, both from its origin and correspond- 
ence, how pure and holy conjugial love is, and what 
sanctity there is in marriage as it is viewed in heaven. 
The Lord himself being regarded as the source and 
centre and very essence of it, this love with the angels 
is not only free from terrestrial defilements, but is the 
fountain of all other angelic loves. 

11 If conjugial 1 ays Swedenborg, "be received 

from its author who is the Lord, sanctity from Him fol- 



lows, wh mtinually cleanses and pui 

Co:: d in it - 

ind pure b with and men 

tal love of all the l< n and 

th mse it From the marria 

truth ; and from this in.,: ill the 

loves which make h and the chinch with man. 

Two a m i whom or in whom th 

.m image and form of it; and all in heaven, wl 
the \\\> 'enuin i of th ke- 

. Therefi >re ii : 1<>w be h( - 

enly and spiritual, the loves proceeding from it ar 
h av :nly and spiritual. This low-, th a 

parent, and all other lov .1 [en 

from the marriages of the angels in heaven, are produ< 
spiritual offspring which are of lo\ 1 wisdom, 

>d and truth." — C. L. n. 64, ';. 

From this it maybe seen th.it conjugial lov >me- 

thing quite different from the mere l< :;. I: 

is pure and heavenly in its nature, and can exist 01 
with rational. terate, heavenly-minded pers( >ns. The 

love of the sex has supreme regard to self and -rl f-- rati- 
fication ; but conjugial love has supreme regard to the 
Lord and the things .that are well-plea » I lim. The 

love of the sex belongs to our carnal or animal nature ; 
conjugial love belongs to our spiritual and immortal part. 
The love of the sex is low — "of the earth, earthy 

njugial love is from the Lord out ^\ heaven, and is 
supreme above all ether loves. The love of th 
exists with natural and even sensual men ; conjugial lo 
only with those who are. in some de pir- 

itual and r . Sweden!) 

"The love of the sex is of the external or natural man, 



HEAVEN REVEALED. 

and hence is common to every animal. Every man is 
bom ( real, and becomes more and more interiorly 

natural ; and as he loves intelligence he becomes rational, 
and afterwards if he loves wisdom he becomes spiritual. 
. . . [fhe stand still in the first threshold in theprogr 

w to wisdom, the form of his natural mind remains, 
and th ives the influx of the universal sphere | which 

is of the marriage of good and truth) no otherwise than 

do the inferior subjects of the animal kingdom — the 
beasts and birds — receive it; and as these are merely 
natural, man becomes like unto them [in the matter we 
are now speaking of], and so loves the sex in like man- 
ner as they do. 

" But conjugial love is of the internal or spiritual man, 
because, as a man becomes more intelligent and wise, he 
becomes more internal or spiritual; and in the same de- 
gree the form of his mind is more perfected, and this 
form receives conjugial love ; for it therein is sensible of 
a spiritual joy which is inwardly blessed, and from this 
a natural joy which derives soul, life and essence from 
that."— C. L. n. 94, 95. 

But conjugial love may be said to be included in the 
love of the sex like a gem in its matrix. It is the spir- 
itual internal whereof 'the love of the sex is the natural 
external. It is the love of the sex regenerated, spir- 
itualized, cleansed of its defilements, lifted from earth to 
heaven. The love of the sex, like all other natural loves, 
is first in time — first in the order of development; but 

tljugial love, like all spiritual loves and the spiritual 
man himself, is first in end first in the order of import- 
ance. 

We thus see how the love between married pairs in 
heaven, called conjugial love, differs from the natural 
man's love of the sex —a love which often leads to unions 



here on earth which \. •, but whi 

purely natural and 

them. 

In heaven th 
ful • m— the fre< dom ol 

niK minion, i 

wholly unknown among Th >uls 

are so p< united —every fi heir h i 

intertwined, each with tl that they have no 

ite and in «1 !) th ire to 

have any. Each lives in and for tl . and f 

desires to live so. Wdi.it one desires and wills, the other 
desires and wills also. One thinks no thought which 
the other does not think; one chei i purpo 

which the other does not cherish ; one fe< which 

the other does not feel ; one breathes no | 
the other does not breathe. Their < . bond of 

uni«>n is God's holy spirit of truth and love dwelling and 
operative in their hearts; and "where t tin- 

Lord is, there is liberty," for there is wisdom and there 
is love; and "what is done from love truly conjugial, 
done in freedom on both sicj r all freedom 

and each has freedom when one loves what ther 

thinks and wills ' A. C. IO.173). The least inclination 
to exercise dominion, or to force the will 1 
is foreign to the nature of conjugial love, an 
which does not exist in heaven. 

"The love ofexercisii ninion one over the other 

completely takes away conjugial love and it. he 
delight; for conjugial love and its I in 

this: that the will of one be that of the other, and this 



300 H V REVEALED, 

mutually and r The love of dominion in 

marri he who domineers wishes 

it his will should be in the other, and none of the 
other's reciprocally in himself. Hence there is nothing 
mutual, consequently no reciprocal communication of 
one's love and its delight with the other. Vet this com- 
munication and thence conjunction is the interior delight 
itself in marriage, which is called blessedness. The love 
of dominion completely extinguishes this blessednc 
and with it all celestial and spiritual love. . . When one 
wills or loves what the other does, both enjoy freedom ; 
f<>r all freedom is the offspring of love. But when there 
is dominion, neither is free. One is a slave, and so is 
the other that exercises dominion, because he is led as 
a slave by the lust of domineering." — II. II. n. 380. 

Marriage in the heavens being the conjunction of two 
minds into one, can exist only between one man and 
one woman. .And so complete!)' are their souls wedded, 
that their thoughts and affections never wander from 
each other. The husband never thinks of any female 
but his own wife with other feelings than those of charity 
and mutual love. If he should, that moment the bless- 
edness of conjugial love would depart, and darkness 
would invade the souls of both. The wife would expe- 
rience a dreadful sinking at the heart, as if the light of 
her life were about to be extinguished. And a similar 
alt would follow, should the wife think fondly of any 
Other man than her own husband. 

44 You two are one," said Swedenborg to a married 
couple in heaven. "And the man answered, We are 
one. Her life is in me, and mine in her. We are two 
bodies, but one soul. The union between us is like that 
between the two tents in the breast, called heart and 



NA .301 

lungs. She is 11 

Lii we here un ' by lungs wi 

she is the love of my wisdom and 1 am th< 

'I'h her l( w e from without \ 

m, and my wisdom from within riorlyin I 

love. I lence there 1- an unity of our 

souls ; I th< d, [f such union 

can you I >ther woman than your own ? 1 1 

►lied, I can ; but as my wife is unit 

then . . While I look at the wh 
k at them through my own wife wh< 
I love." -G L n. 75. 

" All of us here say that the husband is truth and his 
wife is good; and that good cannot love any truth but 
n, neither can truth in return love any good but 
its own. If any other were loved, internal marri, 
which makes the church would perish, and there would 
be only external marriage to which idolatry and not the 
church' corresponds. Therefore marriage with one v 
we call sacredness; but should it have place with m 
than one anion- us, we should call it sacrilege."— Ibid. 
n. 76. 

As the love of the sex which i . rnal and natural, 
differs in its nature from conjugial love which is internal 
and spiritual, so also do their delights differ. The dc- 

hts of the former are fleeting and transitory like all 
merely natural delights— becoming less and less delight- 
ful, too, the longer they ar I ; but those of the 
latter, like all pure and spiritual delights, are eternal and 
immortal— becoming more and more delightful the 
longer they are experienced. And since this - it 
exists in heaven, is most innocent, pure and holy— the 
fountain-head, as it v f all other angelic 
all heaven!} and delights 



302 HEAVEN / />. 

into this; for this love above all others opens the inte- 
rior n of the soul, through which gush the streams 
of life pure from their eternal Fountain. 

"As conjugial love," says Swedenborg, "is the fun- 
damental love of all good loves, and as it is inscribed 

on the most minute particulars of man, it follows that 
ed those of all other loves, and also 
that it makes other loves pleasant according to its pn 
ence and its conjunction with them; for it expands the 
inmosts of the mind and at the same time of the body, 
as the delightful current of its fountain Hows through 
and opens them. All pleasures from first to last are 
gathered into this love, because of the superior excel- 
lence of its use above all others, which is the pro; 
;ion of the human race and thence of the angelic 
LVen ; and because this use was the end of ends in 
creation, it follows that all the blessedness, happim 

, gratifications and pleasures, which could pos- 
Ay be conferred on man by the Lord the Creator, are 
gathered into this love." — C. L. n. 68. 

" Conjugial love in its origin is from the marriage of 
good and truth, and this marriage is from the Lord. 
And because love is such that it wills to make another 
whom it loves from the heart, a partaker of, yea, to con- 
fer upon him, joys, and from thence itself to take its 
own; infinitely more, therefore, does the Divine Love 
which is in the Lord, will thus toward man whom lie 
created a receptacle both of love and wisdom proceed- 
from Himself. And because lie created him into 
the reception of these, the man into the reception of 
wisdom and the woman into the reception of the love 
of the wisdom of the man, therefore from inmosts 1 le 
infused into men [homines) conjugial love, into which 
ll« might bring together all things blessed, satisfactory, 

tble and delicious, which proceed together with 



I 

life solely through hi^ divin 

m, and flow in ; consequ in 

love truly iuse these al 

Iiir [Utility, inmost fri- full 

tnd mutual d< . i >f mind and I 

i the oth imed, inasmuch 

inn nd peace are of the soul, tranquillit] 

the mind, ini friendship is of the bosom, full 

nee is of the heart, and the mutual desire of mind and 
irt of the other, is of th< 

from them." — C. L n. [80. 

The truth of all this must appear sufficient!}' obvi 
. who contemplates the effects of the love mutual- 
ly felt by a young man and maiden in the warmth and 
glow of it :mmer; for in their innocent 

.e there is something which allies it to the loves of 
the an And when their love is reciprocated, what 

a new world :nly opened before them! 

What fountains of D eeling are straightway un- 

locked! What new and strange delights are kind] 
in their bosoms! What floods of joy hitherto un- 
known, are opened! What exhilarating and fragrant 
aroma diffuses itself -through all the chambers of their 
souls! And this new love which is felt as someth 
unspeakably delightful, at the same time quickens and 

dts all their other loves, and imparts to them a fr 
delight. They are more kind and tender and >n- 

ate toward everybody. They clasp the whole human 
family to their hearts. Th a new and unwonted 

affection for even the and flow ad the brute 

creation, and seem to love things and >ns that they 

never l^ved before. 



304 HEA J r EN RE J 7. A I ED. 

If such be the effects of youthful love here on earth 
in its first warmth and freshness, it is easy to believe 
that conjugial love in heaven, which is so much purer, 
deeper and stronger, is the parent and source of all 
other heavenly loves ; and that into this love, as Swe- 
denborg assures us, are gathered "all joys and all de- 
lights from first to last." 

Then, to think of this love with angelic consorts as 
not only continuing forever, but growing stronger and 
purer and more delightful with every fresh accession of 
wisdom, and this through endless i And this, too, 

we can easily believe when we consider the origin and 
correspondence and spiritual nature of this love. And 
with equal readiness does the rational mind accept as 
true the following relation which Swedenborg says he 
received from a married couple who had been for ages 
in heaven, and from whom "there breathed forth a ver- 
nal warmth with a sweet-smelling odor as from the ear- 
liest flowers in gardens and fields." 

11 We have been consorts," said they, "now for ages, 
and continually in the flower of age in which you see 
us. Our first state was as the state of a virgin and young 

man when they unite themselves by marriage. And we 
then believed that that state was the very blessedness 
of our life. But we heard from others in our heaven, 
and afterwards we ourselves perceived, that that state 
was one of heat not tempered with light, and that it is 
successively tempered as the husband is perfected in 
wisdom and the wife loves that wisdom in the husband; 
and that this is done by means of uses, and according to 
those which each by mutual aid renders in society; also 
that delights succeed according to the degree of light 
and heat, or of wisdom and its love. . . 



" i said, the man grave m 

hand 

in lik with them 

those wives, now world in- 

firm old women, and the husbands now . < n a i youl 

were there decrepid old men; and th 
►red by th d to th 

mutually, and from i >n shunn d 

Lormous sins. 1 [e fui 1 that no 

• knows the blissful delights of i ial love, but 

he wh cts the dreadful pleasun and 

that n can reject these, but he who is i om 

the Lord; and that no one is wise from the Lord, un] 
he does uses from the lore of use. 

" 1 also saw the utensils of their houses, all of which 
were in heavenly forms, and glittered with gold as it 
were flaming from the rubies set therein." — C. L. n. 137. 

Such is a faint and imperfect outline of the new doc- 
trine o( marriage as it exists in heaven. Such the ori- 

1, correspondence, spiritual nature, ends and uses of 
love truly conjugial ; and such its unutterable and ev 
lasting delights. Can we conceix mything in the 

nature of marriage more beautiful, more perfect, m 
desirable, or which carries more plainly on its face the 
very impress of heaven — the stamp of pure and eternal 
truth? It ich a view of the subject .is satisfies the 

deepest want, the devoutest ! •;. and the hi 

reason of every regen < I 

perfect 1 , with Holy Scripture. 

And how do the views here presented exalt and 1 
nify the institui f marriage! What beauty and 

sanctity do they tl >vcr it, and how do they lift it 

up from earth to heaven! Who is there, whose eye is 

I" 



HEAVEN REVEALi 

not dimmed by error or blinded by prejudice, that cannot 
in this heavenly doctrine something of the wisdom 
and love and glory of the Lord? Who cannot here s 
Him coming to the long beclouded minds of men on 
this grand subject, with new and precious and convincing 
truth — yea, 44 with power and great glory" ? 



XXV. 
PRACTICAL CONSIDERA TIONS. 

WE have all along invited the reader's attention to 
the practical hearing and value of Swedenborg's 
disclosures concerning heaven. And we have done this 
for two reasons : first, because no stronger evidence of 
their truth can be offered than their obvious useful n< 
when practically applied; and second, because upon no 
single point, perhaps, is Swedenborg more generally 
misunderstood than on this. The great practical value 
of his teachings and revealings cannot be too strongly 
emphasized. They all have relation to life, and come 
close home to us as husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, 
merchants, mechanics, members of society and citizens 
of the state. All truth must have relation to life ; for 
what higher purpose can it have, or for what nobler end 
could it be given, than to teach us how to live that we 
maybe most useful and most happy? 

We have seen that the great Swede's disclosures con- 
cerning sex and marriage in heaven, rest upon a solid 
foundation. Scripture and reason, the desires and hopes 



' a and women everywhere, and tli 

stitutional requirements of both 

f their truth. We have the 

what !■ 
conjugial love is, when< who 

n what , and what pai 

delights flow from its r c ptio m a unioi 

in heaven, spiritual < nly thoughts 

and • fresh and new) arc continually 

born to the v I pair; and ti salt and strength 

their I s natural offspring do on earth — but in a far 

higher d< 

u The angels, Swedenborg, u have conjugial love 

according to their wisdom, and the increments of that 
love and its delights according to the increments of wis- 
dom. And the spiritual offspring that are born of their 
marriages, arc such things as arc of wisdom from the 

lather and of love from the mother, which offspring they 
love from spiritual Storge ; which love adds itself to their 
conjugial love, and continually exalts it, and ins 

them." — C. L. n. 211. 

We arc taught to pray: "Thy will be done on earth 
as it is done in heaven." If marriages, then, really exist 
in heaven, their nature, when revealed, should teach us 
what marriages here on earth might to be — yes, and 
what they will be when the Father's will shall be done 
here as it is done in heaven. What, then, is the practical 
lesson to be derived from Swedenborg's di 
this subject? What, in \ >f this new doctrine, will 

be the primary thought and chief aim of those contem- 
plating marriage, or who have already entered upon it, 



HEAVEN REVEALED. 

if in their hearts they arc really praying the prayer which 
the L<tc1 taught hi 

lli t ami controling thought will be of the Lord. 

all true i ial love is from Him, and He is the 

all-in-all of every true marriage, therefore their souls 
will first be lifted to I lim in prayer. All who accept the 

LVenly doctrine on this subject, will sec that there can 
he n<> real marriage except where there is .1 union of 
souls; and such, therefore, is the union they will desire 
and seek. They will see that their highest earthly bl 
depends upon it. Any other union may, perchance, em- 
hitter their whole lives ; or if not this, may deprive them 
of all tin tn< ss and delights of marriage. While 

there is, on the one hand, no heavier or more consuming 
grief than to be tied to an uncongenial and ill-adapted 
mate, there is, on the other, no purer earthly bliss than 
that experienced by consorts whose souls are wedded 
each to each. It is a bliss closely allied to that of 
hea\ 

Aiid not only are the happiness and spiritual growth 
of the parties themselves involved in this relation, but 
the character and happiness of their posterity, through 
successive generations. For children born of parents 
who are in love truly conjugial, inherit from them, to a 
degree above others, an inclination to the things of 
heavenly life — the truths of wisdom and the goods of 
love. 

" ( ^flfspring," says Swedenborg, " born of two who are 

in love truly conjugial, draw from their parents the con- 
jugial of good and truth; 91 that is, "they inherit, more 
in others, an aptness and facility for conjoining good 



I 

to truth and truth I d, thui >n- 

)t imbibing the thii the ch 

*• I have heard from the tli.it those wh 

in the m< times, live .it this day in h 

in like manner as they had lived on earth, b 
tm] ial was with them ; and that their offspr 

inherit n inclii 

and truth, and that theyv iily initial 

I more internally by the parents by 
when they became of more mature judgment 
duced into it as ofthemselves bythe Lord." ( , I 

We thus see what solemn and wei 

induce all who are contemplating marria 

k a truly conjugial union. And h 
to form Mich a relation, without looking devoutly for 
guidance to Him who is the light of all mind-, and I 

urceofall true marriages on earth as well as in hea\ 
There is no single act in life wherein the guidai 
Divine wisdom is so much need in that ol mar- 



1 



As soon, therefi a man b< think 

of entering into this sacred relation— invoivii 

does, not only his own best welfare, but the cha 
and well-being of his posterity— he should ento r in 
his closet, the secret closet ofhis heart, and pi the 

Father that seeth in secret, for the wisdom and guidan 
which he so much needs. And if he sincerely d 
to be led of the Lord in a matt 1 u*d 

ks to Him with humble and supplicating heart, he 
cannot fail to be led in the right way. 



3io \i.in. 

" Every society of heaven/ 1 says Swedenborg, "con- 

f .similar character. They who arc 

all' ;ether not of themselves but of the 

Lord. In like manner conjugial partners whose minds 
are capable of being conjoined into one, are drawn to- 
gether; and at first sight they deeply love each other, 
and see that they are conjugial partners, and enter into 
marriage. Hence all the marriages in heaven are of 
the Lord alone."— 1 1. II. n. 383. 

This is the case with those who have died in infancy 
or childhood, and been educated in heaven. They have 
never contracted any evil habits, and have learned and 
practiced the true worship. It is the indwelling of the 
Lord in their hearts which gives such perception. But 
it is otherwise on earth, mainly because children are 
not here nurtured, nor surrounded by such sweet relig- 
ious atmospheres, as they are in heaven. They are not 
early taught to deny self, and to shun all known evils 
as sins. And sin always clouds the mind's clear vision. 
Forgetting or turning our backs on the Lord, as we do 
when we disobey his precepts, is what shuts out the 
light of heaven from the soul. And this light gone, we 
walk in darkness. And u he that walketh in darkness, 
knoweth not whither he goeth." 

From the heavenly view of marriage that wc have 
presented, it is further seen that, if one desires or hopes 
to form a true conjugial union, lie must worship the 
Lord in his daily life; he must cultivate a reverence 
fur the written Word, and shun as a sin all known evil. 
There can be no true worship without this; for it is not 
with words only that the Lord is truly worshiped. 
Words alone do not open the heart to the reception of 



the Divin work 

truth, .in 

lute puip " ! ,; ;// - 

meth fc ht. M 

Wh tlu * h 

marria ■ now revealed, will see tl 

learning and doing the will of the L01 I, il 
I true ( He will ! 

the m that wisdom which cometh from Above— 

the wisdom of a right ind useful life. He will 

that, without this wisdom he can nc, 
by a true woman; for a true woman cm lo. hat 

there is of wisdom in a man. lie will see the 
therefore, of becoming; a form of heavenly wisdom 
fore he can hope to he truly loved by a heavenly-mind- 
ed woman. So soon as he begins to think ofmarryi 
therefore, he will (if he accepts the heavenly doctrine 
on this subject) begin to think of learning wisdom From 
the L«»rd. He will begin, if he has not already, to 

ird and shun evils a tinst God. If he h 

vicious habits— as of idleness, intemperance, I 
ness, profanity— he will straightway abandon them. Ii 
lie has no useful occupation he will seek one. If he 
is false, dishonest, conceited, self-seeki lly- 

minded, he will repent, humbly invoke the Divine aid, 
and earnestly set about the work of reformation. \( he 
hai red at religion or trifled with holy Script! 
will change his course and begin to cultivat 
ence for the Word and for all sacred things, I 
are taught by this new revelation that the conjunct 
of a wit^ is with the rational, moral and spiritual wisdom 
of the husband. 



312 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

"Of moral wisdom with the men are all the moral 
virtues which regard the life, and enter it, as arc also 
the spiritual virtues which flow forth from love to God 
and from \o\ s the neighbor, and flow together 

into those lov< The virtues which pertain to the 
moral wisdom of men, arc called temperance, sobriety, 
pre 'hit}-, benevolence, friendship, modesty, sincerity, 
obligingness, civility; also sedulity, industry, skilful- 
ne rity, munificence, liberality, generosity, activ- 

ity, intrepidity, prudence; besides more. The spiritual 
virtues with the men are the love of religion, charity, 
truth, faith, conscience, innocence; besides more. The 
latter virtues and the former may in general be referred 
to love and zeal for religion, for the public good, for 
one's country, for his fellow-citizens, for his parents, for 
his consort and for his children. In all these, justice 
and judgment rule; justice is of moral wisdom, and 
judgment is of rational wisdom." — C. L. n. 164. 

Such is the practical lesson which this new doctrine 
teaches every man SO soon as he begins seriously to 
think of entering the marriage relation. And it teaches 
a similar lesson to every marriageable woman. By 
proclaiming a union of souls, and the spiritual uses of 
marriage as well as the spiritual nature of love truly 
conjugial, it teaches every woman who desires a true 
marriage, the n ty ^i elevating her thoughts and 

affections to things spiritual and divine, and of looking 
for some measure, at least, of heavenly wisdom in the 
man whom she is to call her husband. It teaches her 
that the supreme delights of marriage can never be 
known except to the spiritually minded and regenerate; 
and that if she loves a man who is destitute of heavenly 
wisdom, it is with a natural, selfish or worldly love 



which can endure < >nly s i I on tl ural i 

d. I \n ! 

Id, love only what is of \\ 

lorn is from the I 

1 i in, th< i fully .. 

and h> .ill, Ik 

mand that her suitor .shall 
dence not men 
hut of that wisdom cially which com 

that h< man of religious principle — a n 

whose ruling purpose it is to know and do the will 
the 1. rd, who heeds the voice of duty sooner than the 
promptin; self-interest, and is t\ 

persona] sacrifice in defense of the right and the true. 
To such a man, a woman may safely give her hand and 
heart. But there is no security — almost n for 

her future peace and welfare, if she con marry 

one who is devoid of religious principle. Nothing — 
no amount of worldly wealth, no rank, i. or con- 

nections however high and honorable 
for the lack of this. And this every woman will | 
see, who understands and fully r heavei 

doctrine of marriage.' 

Such is the practical lesson which this nei line 

teaches to youn^ nu n and maidens — to all, indeed, w 
are contemplating wedded life. 

And not the instruction which the 

doctrine contains for those who have air. 
the matrimonial state. It teaches both husbands and 
wives that they cannot know what true conjugial I 
is, nor have experience of its pure delights, save in the 
27 



314 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

degree that their souls become conjoined to the Lord 
by a life of use, and of religious obedience to the Divine 
precepts. The angels say that the marriage state be- 
comes more blissful and perfect "as the husband is per- 
fected in wisdom, and the wife loves that wisdom in 
the husband ; and that this is done by means of uses, 
and according to the uses which each of them by mu- 
tual aid affords in society." — C. L. n. 137. 

" No others come into conjugial love, or can be in it, 
but those who come to the Lord, and love the truths 
of the church and do its goods; because . . this love, 
considered as to its origin and correspondence, is heav- 
enly, spiritual, holy, pure and clean above every love 
that is with the angels of heaven and the men of the 
church ; and these its attributes cannot be given but to 
those who are conjoined to the Lord, and by Him con- 
sociated with the angels of heaven. 

" That they come into this love, and can be in it, 
who love the truths of the church and do its goods, is 
because no others arc accepted of the Lord; for these 
are in conjunction with them, and thence can be held in 
that love of Himself. . . . The truth of faith causes the 
Lord's presence, and the good of life according to truths 
of faith causes conjunction with Him, and thereby heav- 
en and the church." — C. L. n. 70, T, *2. 

Thus the new doctrine teaches to married pairs the 
importance of beginning their wedded life with the 
Lord. It teaches the necessity of looking to Him and 
becoming internally conjoined to Him through a life 
of obedience to his precepts, before they can come into 

tate of genuine love towards, or of spiritual union 
with, each other. The reason is, that true Conjugial 
love is from the Lord; and only those, therefore, can 



be in it and experience it in I ' 

and He in them. It is well known th.it husb ind 

wi\ I the warmest I tch other when in * 

most faithful performance of all their d\ and il 

the faithful discha f our duties, winch brin 

into spiritual conjunction with the Lord I 
duty is tic 

heed that voice, we are clasped more closely in the I 
vine embrace. Apart fr< >d ami duty, I 

and never can be, such a thing as true conjugial love on 
h or in heaven. 

It is evident enough, therefore, that this love is spir- 
itual in its nature, and that only those come into it and 
experience its delights, who come to the Lord and learn 
and do the truths of his Word. And it is no less evi- 
dent — from human experience as well as from the n 
revealings — that the more faithfully consorts perform all 
their duties, the more the husband incr- a wisdom 

and the wife in the love o( that wisdom, the m 
closely wedded will their souls become, and the more 
fully will the\' experience the delights of conjugial love. 
From which we may reasonably conclude that m 
riages must exist in heaven, and become ever I an! 

more delightful as the souls of angelic consort >me 

more closely wedded to the Lord and to each other. — 
C. L. n. 216. 

Such is the important practical lesson which the I 
doctrine concerning marriages in heaven inculcates. It 
teaches consorts on earth to their wedded life 

with the Lord. It reveals to them the nee (if 

they would know the supreme delights of mar. 



HEAVEN Rl ../). 

living and actin ntinually from religious principle; 
the to the Lord and following after 

Hi imbibing and cherishing a Christian spirit, and 

of performing all their duties with religious fidelity; in 
a word, of making the upbuilding of the kingdom of 
heaven in their hearts the ruling purpose of their lives. 
Having this for their grand and constant aim, they will 
indeed be helpmeets to eaeli other in the highest and 

>t sense; for they will be perpetually helping each 
other on their way to heaven. They will not strive to 
by ministering to each other's natural proprium 
— pride, ambition, vanity, or love of self — for thus they 
would shut out from each other's hearts the Lord and 
heaven and all true love; but by kindness and gentle- 
ness, yet with perfect frankness one towards the other, 
by affectionate counsel, encouragement and reproof, by 
mutual aid in revealing and overcoming their evils, the 
soul of each will gradually become more closely con- 
joined to Him from whom all true love descends, and 
the golden chain that binds their hearts to each other, 
will grow continually brighter, stronger, and more 
golden. 

Let married partners here on earth accept and adopt 
these heavenly views of marriage, let them be ever mind- 
ful of its spiritual design and uses, and never forget or 
turn away from Him who is the source of all love truly 
conjugial, and they will experience, in the interned wed- 
ding of their souls, a bliss which the world can neither 
give nor take away. And the pains, disappointments, 
bereavements, and manifold ills of life, instead of weak- 
ening their attachment, will serve to bind their hearts 



n- 
• 
Why is it that the h >f man ied part: 

': and colde i i h oth 

Why dors married life with many, at fi 
and joyous, after a whil i dull, in- 

sipid, almost wearisome ? I 

not ui l )l the h 

trine con< know the 

enly nature i ;ia1 love. They ha 

into the relation from any exalted m with any 

spiritual view o\ it, nor sought to fulfill its »ns 

a any religious principle. Ha> looked 

tin- one true Source for th& joys they anticipated, having 
lost or strayed away from the path of duty, and excluded 
1 and heaven and the things of religion from their 
affections and thoughts, no wonder their hearts have 
>wn cold, and marriage worthless, and life itself w 
me. No wonder they have not found in this sac: 
relation the heaven they expected ; for they looked in 
the wr lirection for it— to the things which are from 

beneath, and not to those which come from above. '1 I 
expected a heaven where the Lord, religion and d 
were unheeded or unknown ; no wonder, therefore, that 
they were disappointed. 

M Man was created. . "that k 

:e more and more internal, and thus be intr 
or elevated more and more nearly to the heavenly n 
riageofg nd truth, andso into love truly conjuj 

even so for as to perceive the state of its bl< 
The sole medium of such introduction or elevation, is 
religion. 
27* 



318 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

u 1 [ence it follows that where religion is not, conjugial 
love is not possible; and where this is not, there is con- 
jugial cold which is the privation of that love, conse- 
quently a privation of the state of the church, or of 
religion. 

"The first of the internal causes of colds, is the re- 
jection of religion by both parties. With those who 
throw back [or reject] . . the sacred things of the church, 
no -o<ul love is possible. If there is any apparent one 
from the body, still there is none in the spirit. With 
such persons goods locate themselves on the outside of 
evils, and cover them over as cloth shining with gold 
covers a rotten body. The evils which reside within 
and are covered over, are in general hatreds, and thence 
intestine combats against everything spiritual ; for all 
things of the church which they reject, are in themselves 
spiritual. And because love truly conjugal is the fun- 
damental of all spiritual loves, it is manifest that there 
is intrinsic hatred of that." — C. L. n. 23S, '39, '40. 

It cannot be denied, therefore, that the legitimate tcn- 
d< ncy of this new doctrine of marriage, is most whole- 
some and benign. And this is the strongest possible 
evidence of its truth. Where in all the literature of 
Christendom can we find an)' teaching on the subject of 
marriage, so exalted and reasonable in itself, so refining 
and potent in its moral influence, so purifying and ele- 
vating in its practical tendency, as that contained in 
Swedenborg's treatise on Conjugial Love? Yet this is 
the book which, more than any other from the pen of 
the same illumined author, has been misrepresented, 
maligned, ridiculed, condemned and spit upon by the 
professed followers of Jesus Christ, and even by men 
claiming to be his ministers! Cur sorrowful feeling for 



all such, finds its tn 

" 1 e them, f! >r they know not what I 

I t this ne^ ner- 

nd made a . and what 

change would shortly f human 

ty! What different fathers and i hould i 

have! What different What 

different atmosphere in all our homes ! What a chati 
would ere-loi ght in the wh< ial, moral 

and I of ( 'hristendom ! Married life would 

irywhere cease to be dull or insipid, and would 

rded as th image of heaven on earth, 

it would be. And millions of hearts would feelin 
and joyfully respond to the sentiment of the p< 

a bliss beyond all that the minstrel bas told, 
When two that arc linked in one heavenly I 
With heart never changing and brow nei 

Love on through all ills, and love on till they die. 
1 Me hour of a th 

\\ hol< - and w andering bib j 

And, oh ! if there be an Elysium on earth, 
I is this : 



XXVT. 
WORK IN HEAVEN 



WHENEVER a person contemplates a * of 

isidence, one of the first questions he usually 
asks himself, is, How shall I employ myself in my new 
abode? And it is equally natural for those who i 



HEAVEN / 

hoping day to go to heaven, to ask, How shall we 

be occupied, or what shall we do % when we get there? 
Has Swedenborg answered thi n? Yes — quite 

explicitly. 

But first, let US see what Christians prior to his time 
thought about it. On this, as on most other questions 
touching the Hereafter, opinions were divided. Some 

believed they should sit upon thrones, and that their 
happiness would spring from the exercise of regal au- 
thority. Others, that they would feast with patriarchs 
and prophets on the daintiest viands, and that this would 
be unutterable bliss. Others, that they should dwell in 
a city with pearl gates and golden streets, be surrounded 
by more than princely magnificence, and that idly gaz- 
ing on such outward splendor would make them su- 
premely happy. Others, that there would be in heaven 
a complete release from all active employment, and that 
happiness would be found in utter idleness — its denizens 
forever quaffing delights without rendering the slightest 

vice. Others, that heaven is a place abounding in 
spontaneous paradisiacal joys, where all things pleasant 
b i the senses are daily born with endless variety, and where 
it is bliss to respire the fresh and ever-varying delights. 
Others (and some Christians of the present day may be 
included in this class) have supposed that acts of formal 
worship — oral prayer and songs of thanksgiving and 

use — would be the chief employment of the heavenly 
inhabitants. 

Such, arc the opinions which Christians have hitherto 
entertained. Does any one of them appear reasonable 
in the light of the present day? To conceive of human 



I 

bein all hui n any 

-what could 
Whir! ition you ch< 

as little else than a Foi all the \ 

mentioned ways of living, when ilar 

-uftations, fall far below the ordinary employnv 
people h irth, in point of both dignity and im- 

Somc may think this la; 
pin the la^t named occupation. 1 the 

subject for a moment. Is there no higher kind of wor- 
ship than oral prayer and hymns of thanksgiving and 
praise? These, rightly r d, are not cuds, hut sim- 

ply means to an end. They are a means of opening the 
il to a freer influx, of the Lord's love and wisdom, and 
thus leading us to act in accordance with his will in the 
manifold relations of life. To 1 them as anything 

more or other than helps to greater fidelity in the dis- 
charge of our ordinary duties, is to commit a seri 
mistake. 

Suppose people on earth should devote themselves 
exclusively to praying and psalm-sin making this 

their regular occupation: should we think they w 
thereby worshiping God in a manner mo 
to Him? Would they thus be fulfilling the great end 
of their creation? Would the various wants and facul- 

3 of the soul find their full g n in such ex 

cises ? Is this man's proper employment t So far f\ 
it, the individual who should make it the regular busi- 
ness of his life, would justly be regarded as insane. 

Besides, what use would be subserved by it, if en- 

v 



in d. 

ccupation? Would the growth 

r the welfare and happiness of society be 

thereby promoted ? And whatever does not lend to 

this end, cannot be really useful. God docs not desire 
our prayers or praises on his own account. He desires 
them solely for our good. I Ie knows them to be a means 

opening our souls to the influx of his love and wis- 
dom, and of helping us to obey more implicitly the pre- 
empts which require us to love and do good to our 
neighbor. 

And docs any one believe that a person's own happi- 
n :ss or growth in the heavenly graces, would be pro- 
moted by making oral prayer and psalm-singing the 
business of his life? Let the best man living devote 
himself steadily and exclusively to this for a single 
week, and the languor, listlessness and mental torpor 
thereby induced before the close of this brief period, 
em to him anything but heavenly delight. 
The\- would convince him that he was doing violence 
to his better nature — sinning against the laws of his spir- 
itual being. 

Acts of formal worship may be (we are told, are) oc- 
casionally engaged in by the angels ; and these exercises 
are, in heaven as on earth, a means of spiritual improve- 
ment. But they cannot be the regular employment 
there, unless man's spiritual constitution is totally 
changed in the other world — a presumption not war- 
ranted by reason or Scripture. For man lias many fac- 
ulties and wants besides those which find their gratifi- 

tion in acts of formal worship. Each of these facul- 
ties has a definite mode of action, seeks its gratification 



in its own way. And they are wants and faculti 
the soul, and must there! as the soul 

And if the d< > not find their 

ication in prayer and sacred song here, neither will 
they there. If this would not be useful as an occupat 

On earth, what reason is there fof believing it would he 

in heaven? If it would not promote men's happin 
here, why should it be the chief source of happin 

there? And if those who should make it their sole i 
CUpation on earth would be regarded as insane, what, 
then (if it be the chief employment of the angels), would 
heaven be but a vast assemblage of lunatics? 

Similar remarks will apply with even more force to 
the other ideas which Christians have entertained about 
life in heaven. In the light of to-day, they are all seen 
to be most unreasonable and absurd. Not one of them 
will stand the test of a rational examination. Sitting 
upon thrones, feasting daintily with the patriarchs, walk- 
ing idly in golden streets, dwelling luxuriously in pal- 
aces of regal splendor — none of these things can confer 
real happiness, because none of them can adequately 
supply the soul's varied wants. And if it is desirable 
to have correct views on the subject, it is to the same 
extent desirable that some further revelation respecting 
it be vouchsafed. 

Turn now to the disclosures made through Sweden- 
borg; and see if they are as unreasonable as the beliefs 
which have hitherto prevailed, lie tells us first, that 
there are innumerable occupations in heaven, every one 
there having some useful work to do, for which lie is 
constitutionally fitted, and which he takes delight in 



N i one can be happy or be in heaven without 
|y employed. But work there is never fa- 

ls it oi\^n is "ii earth. It is the free, spontane- 
ous and healthy exercise of the faculties; — is all joyous 
and delightful like the dearly-loved plays of children. 

"There are/' says Swedenborg, "so many offices and 

administrations in heaven, and so many employments 
also, that it is impossible to enumerate them on account 
their great number. Those in the world are compar- 
w. All, how man\' soever there be, are in the 
delight of their occupation, and labor from the love of 
use, and no one from the love of self or gain. Nor is 
any i>nc influenced by the love of gain for the sake of 
maintenance, because all the necessaries of life are given 
them gratis, — their habitations, garments and food. 
From these considerations it is evident that they who 
have loved themselves and the world more than use, 
have no lot in heaven. For every one's own love or 
affection remains with him after his life in the world, 
nor is it extirpated to eternity." — II. II. n. 393. 

And we are further told that every one's happiness in 
heaven, is in proportion to the importance of the use 
he performs there, and to the affection and earnestnc 
with which he devotes himself to it. 

14 Every one in heaven is remunerated according to 
the excellence of his use, and at the same time accord- 
ing to his affection of use. No one that is idle is there 
tolerated, no slothful vagabond, no indolent boaster of 
the studies and labors of Others ; but every one must 
be active, skilful, attentive and diligent in his own office 
and business, and must place honor and reward not in 
fust but in the second or third place. According to 
these circumstances there is an influx among them of 
necessaries, of the useful things o[ life, and of the de- 



WOkK IN !U I 

lightful things of life, . . The necessaries of life, which 

vcn gratis by the Lord and which I in a n 

ment, are food, clothing and hahit.it inn, which altogether 
correspond to the use in which the angel is; the useful 
things A\r those which are subservient to these thi 
things, and arc a delectation to him, besides various 
things for the table, for garments, and in the hou 
beautiful according to the use, and shining according to 
its affections; the delightful things are those winch arc 
joyed with the conjugial partner, with friends, with 
companions, with all by whom he is loved, and whom 
he himself loves. From every affection of use proceeds 
that love which, is mutual and reciprocal." — A. K , Vol. 
vi., p. 355- 

But the Bible, we are told, speaks of the righteous 

after death as "resting from their labor." How is this 
language to be understood, and how is its teaching to 
be reconciled with that of the passage just quoted ? We 
will let Swedenborg himself answer this question, or 

rather one of the wise ones he encountered in the other 
rid. On a certain occasion three new comers from 
our earth, who had imbibed many erroneous ideas about 
heaven, and among others, that all active occupation 
would there cease, were led about by a wise elder, and 
shown various things which astonished them. At length 
"they were led in the city [called Athenaeum] to the 
rulers, administrators, and their subordinate officers, and 
by the latter to the wonderful specimens of workmanship 
which are made in a spiritual manner by the artificers." 
And the narrative proceeds : 

"After these were seen, the elder man again spoke 
with them concerning the eternal rest from labors, into 

2S 



326 HEAVl N REVEALED, 

which the blessed and happy come after death, and said: 
Eternal rest is not idleness, since from idleness is languor, 
torpor, stupor, and deep sleep of the mind, and thence 
of the whole body ; and these are death and not life, and 
still less eternal life in which the angels of heaven arc. 

Wherefore eternal rest is a rest which dispels these, and 
causes man to live; and this is nothing else but such as 
vates the mind. It is therefon some study and work 
by which the mind is excited, vivified and delighted; 
and this is done according to the use from which, in 
which, and to which it operates. Hence it is that the 
entire heaven is regarded by the Lord as containing 
uses; and every angel is an angel according to us 
The pleasure of use carries him on, as a favorable stream 
does a ship, and causes him to be in eternal peace and 
in the rest of peace. Thus is understood eternal r< 
from labors." — C. L. n. 20J . 

And many Christians of our day, especially such as 
are gifted with much spiritual insight, have come to the 
same conclusion without the help of Swedenborg, — so 
completely do his disclosures about life in heaven accord 
with the dictates of reason and common sense. How 
entirely in agreement with the above extract, is the fol- 
lowing, for example, by the author of that remarkable 
discourse, " Religion in common Life," which has been 
SO widely circulated : 

" The true * Rest ' of the soul is that, not of Tnactix 
but of ( *ongenial Exertion. Labor is rest to the active and 
energetic spirit. To not a few minds, congenial activity, 

[er, absorbing, all but incessant, is the element in which 
they find repose. And the ardent and enthusiastic soul, 

iscious of power, and delighting in work that calls it 
forth, will sometim m to enjoy perfect serenity only 

in the whir! of occupation, as the bird on the Wing, in 



the flow of joyous strength, while it cleaves the air at 
fullest speed, yet seems as ii >t, poi out- 

spread pinions. 

11 For it is to be remembered that the toil that is \\n- 
felt is no toil ; and th< f the mind's faculti 

on congenial objects, is not only unaccompanied byai 
irksome sense of toil, but is attended, and probably , w< re 
it not for the necessity o\ usin s mate rial organs, 

would ever continue to be attended, with positive delight. 
Fatigue, waste, exhaustion, belong only to matter and 
material organization. The mind itself does not wa 
or grow wear\', and but for the weight of the weapons 
wherewith it works, it might think", and imagine, and 
love on forever. Even with all its present drawbacks, 
a spirit of great power and en SO far from resting, 

frets and feels ill at ease in inactivity. To it inaction is 
unrest and torture — no work so hard as doing nothing. 
Only in the putting forth of its energies, in the evolution 
of its inward power, in the devotion of thought and feel- 
ing to congenial pursuits, does it find itself tranquil, un- 
burdened, at rest." — Caird's Sermons, pp. 251, '2. 

Swedenborg further tells us that the diligent applica- 
tion of the mind to some useful employment from a 
principle of neighborly love, is an essential condition of 
happiness in the realms above ; and that no one can have 
experience of the joys of heaven without such applica- 
tion, since the interiors cannot otherwise be opened to 
the Divine life, the influx of which is the cause of all 
true joy. He relates the following as instruction given 
by the angels themselves to certain novitiates who had 
recently entered the spiritual world : 

11 The delight of use arising from love through wis- 
dom, is the life and soul of all heavenly joys. In the 
heavens there are most joyful consociations, which ex- 



328 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

hilarate the minds of the angels, fill their bosoms with 
pl< and recreate their bodies; but not until they 

h.i\ med uses in their functions and employments, 

these uses is the soul or life of all their joys and 
delights. And if this soul or life be taken away, acccs- 
ry joys gradually become no joys, exciting first of all 
indifference, then disgust, and lastly sorrow and anxiety." 

— G L. n. 5. 

"There is a certain latent vein in the affection of the 
will of every angel, which draws his mind to the doing 
of something; and by this the mind is tranquillized and 
made satisfied with itself. This tranquillity and satis- 
faction form a state of mind capable of receiving the 
love of uses from the Lord; from the reception of this 
love is heavenly happiness which is the life of the joys 
mentioned above. Heavenly food in its essence is noth- 
ing else but love, wisdom and use together ; that is, use, 
by wisdom, from love. Wherefore food for the body is 
given to every one in heaven according to the use which 
lie performs; magnificent to those who are in eminent 
uses ; moderate, but of exquisite relish, to those who are 
in uses of a middle degree; and ordinary to such as are 
in ordinary uses; but none to the indolent." — Ibid. n. 6. 

" Learn what is meant by kings and princes, and reign- 
ing with Christ; that it is to know and do uses ; for the 
kingdom of Christ, which is heaven, is a kingdom of 
uses. For the Lord loves all, and thence wills good to 
all. But good is use; and because the Lord does good 
or uses mediately by the angels, and in the world by 
men, so to them who faithfully do uses He gives the 
love of use and its reward which is internal blessedness, 
and this is eternal happiness. There are in the heavens 
as in the earth, supereminent dominions and the richest 
treasures; for there are governments and forms of gov- 
ernment, and thus there are greater and less powers and 
111'ties. For those of the highest rank, are palaces 



WORK IX HEAVEN. 

and courts which exceed in magnificence and splendor 

those of emperors and kings on earth, and honor and 
glory flow around them from the number of their at- 
tendants, ministers and guards, and from their magnifi- 
cent vestures. But they who have the highest rank are 

selected from those whose hearts are in the public wel- 
fare, and who are only as to the senses of the body in 
the fullness of magnificence for the sake of obedience. 
And because it is for the public welfare that every one 
should be of some use in society as in a common body, 
and because all use is from the Lord, and is done through 
angels and through men as if by them, it is plain that 
this is to reign with the Lord." — C. L. n. 7. 

" There are three things which flow as one from the 
Lord into our minds ; these are love, wisdom and use. 
But love and wisdom do not exist unless ideally, when 
only in the affections and thoughts of the mind ; but 
they exist really in use, because they are simultaneously 
in act and bodily work ; and where they exist really, 
there they also subsist. And because love and wisdom 
exist and subsist in use, it is use which affects us; and 
use is faithfully, sincerely and diligently to perform the 
works of one's office. The love of use, and therefrom 
a fixed attention to use, hold the mind together, so that 
it may not flow forth and dissipate itself, and wander 
about, and drink in all the lusts which flow-in from the 
body and the world through the senses, with their al- 
lurements, by which the truths of religion and morality 
with all their goods, are scattered to the winds. But a 
studious fixing of the mind upon use, holds and binds 
them together in use, and disposes the mind into a form 
receptive of wisdom from those truths; and then it ex- 
terminates the sports and mockeries of falsities and van- 
ities." — Ibid. n. 16. 

11 The wise ones said: Man when first ■ created was 
imbued with wisdom and its love, not for the sake of 

2S* 



330 HEAVEN RE VEALED. 

himself but for the sake of its communication with 

ethers from himself 11 inscribed on the wis- 

m of the wise, that no or lives for himself 

alone, but for Others at the same time. Thence is soci- 
ety, which otherwise could not be. To live for others 
is to perform uses. Uses are the bonds of society, which 

arc just as man\- as there are good uses, and the number 
of uses is infinite. . . Moreover, every love has its own 
pleasure, for by this love lives; and the pleasure of the 
love of uses is heavenly pleasure, which enters succeed- 
ing pleasures in order, and according to the order of 
succession exalts them and makes them eternal. 

"After this they enumerated the heavenly delights 
proceeding from the love of use, and said that they are 
myriads of myriads, and that they who are in heaven 
enter into them. And with further discourses of wisdom 
on the love of uses, they passed the day with them until 
evening." — C. L. n. 18, 

And the same thing in substance is often repeated in 
his writings. In the light of these disclosures heaven 
is seen to be a state of intense activity. Every angel 
has some useful occupation which he loves, and in the 
earnest pursuit of which he finds intense delight. With- 
out it, he could not really know what heaven is. Its 

tential constituents, we arc told, are love and wisdom; 
but these are only ideal entities — mere abstractions — 
until determined toward and embodied in works. They 
have no real existence but in use. The angels say: 

11 Love and wisdom without use, are only ideas of ab- 
stract thought, which, after some stay in the mind, pass 
en as winds; but these two are united in use, and th< 
become a unit which is called a real thing. Love can- 
not be easy unless it is doing, for it is the veriest active 
principle of life ; neither can wisdom exist and sub; 



WORK /X ;. 

frorn love and with it; and doing is 
use is to >od from love by i 

of v. U >od itself." — C L n. i 

therefore, or love and wisdom ultimated and 
fixed in deeds, are the essential things in God's kingdom. 
The angelic heaven is a kingdom of uses, and every 
angel is a form of some particular use. Use, moreover, 
is the containant of all true heavenly life, and every 
angel is happy according to the nature of his use, and 
to the affection and earnestness with which he devotes 
himself to it. 

Such is Swedenborg*s uniform teaching on this sub- 
ject. Is it true? is the next and vital question to be 
considered. 

It is generally conceded that God is the one infinite 
Source of life. He alone is Life Itself. And life is for- 
ever active. Life and inaction are incompatible ideas. 
The two cannot coexist. One forbids or dissipates the 
Other, as surely as light disperses the darkness. God is 
Life, and Life is inseparable from action. Therefore 1 [e 
never has ceased and never can cease to work. 1 Ie not 
only did create, but is forever creating. He not only did 
make, but is now and forever making men in his own 
image and likeness; yes, and making worlds, and fitting 
them for the abode and sustenance of human bein 
He is everywhere and always working — always creating 
and preserving ; for it is not in the nature of Life to cease 
from action. This is a central truth. As saith the in- 
carnate Word: " My Father worketh hitherto, and 1 
work." 

Now, as He from whom creation sprang is for, 



332 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

present in his own works, filling, sustaining and direct- 
ing, therefore something of his own activity is stamped 
on all things which have been touched by his living 
breath, from the great orb that warms and enlightens 
us, down to the smallest atom that quivers in his beams. 
All things have an appointed use, a specific KiwOi and a 
determinate mode of action, because something of the 
I Hvine 1 x>ve and Wisdom is in them all as their guiding 
and controling power. This is true of the sun's light 
and heat, of the air we breathe and the earth we tread, 
as well as of everything that lives and grows upon it. 
The smallest grain of dust is the containant of some- 
thing of God's wisdom which directs it to its appointed 
goal, and of something of his love which impels it to 
the performance of its allotted work. And ascending 
to the realm of organic matter, the activity of life be- 
comes more apparent. There is life of a low order in 
plants and trees; and it is ever at work there — ever 
busy at its appointed use. When its vital forces are so 
obstructed that their activity ceases in a blade of grass 
or the limb of a tree, straightway that blade or limb 
withers and dies. 

Then look at animal life, especially as manifested in 
the higher orders. It not only courses in one continu- 
ous current through their veins and arteries, imparting 
health and activity to each separate organ, but it sets 
the whole animal in motion. Each creature has its 
sphere of use, and its determinate mode of action; and 
both its action and its use are according to the nature 
of its life. It must act as its life impels it, else it can- 
not enjoy its full share of happiness, health or content. 



WORK IX HEA\ EN. 333 

We kn^w, too, that a certain amount of b< 
cise is in >le to bodily health. W and 

infirmity arc the sure consequences of inacti n, while 
exercise promotes health and vigor. And this is true 

alike of the whole body and each of its component 

parts. If any part is ex than the rest (pro- 

vided the exercise is not carried to excess), that part is 
sure to outstrip the others in strength and vigor. Look 
at the blacksmith's brawny arm, and contrast it with that 
of one who has left that limb unexercised ! 

What, then, is the conclusion to which we are forced 
by the analogies of nature? Clearly this: That life in 
heaven must be one of intense activity. The denizens 
of the celestial realms must be actively and usefully 
employed. Nature (and this is but the lowest plane of 
the Divine activity) in all her kingdoms is a vast the- 
atre of action, and of action tending always to some 
useful end. Nothing is idle here; nothing stands still; 
nothing is inactive. Earth, sun and stars are always in 
motion. The air and the ocean pulsate continually. 
They have their tides, their eddies, and their currents, 
and through ceaseless activity are preserved in a salu- 
brious condition. And the multitudinous forms of ani- 
mal life all have a determinate mode of action corre- 
sponding to the nature and use of each. And not only 
is activity needed to the health and comfort of each, 
but indispensable to its complete development. And in 
the health}- condition of the human system, how active 
i- every organ and every minutest part of it! Although 
their modes of action and the uses they severally per- 
form are infinitely various, yet they are mutually adapt- 



334 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

ed to each other, and work together in admirable har- 
mony. 

Life, then, under all its innumerable forms on earth, 
is forever active; and everywhere and always it has a 

definite mode of action corresponding to its nature or 
quality. Should we expect it would be less active in 
heaven than on earth ? 

But we have proof stronger than that from analogy, 

well as more direct and positive. We know some 
of the laws that govern man's psychical nature, and 
some of the conditions indispensable to his happiness 
while in the flesh. And one is, the exercise of his 
mental as well as bodily powers, and their determina- 
tion toward some definite object. Activity is insepara- 
ble from his mental constitution; and if his activity is 
not guided by the revealed laws of neighborly love, he 
will be active in doing Satan's work — active in seeking 
his own aggrandizement, and in cheating, robbing and 
spoiling others. And this misdirection of his powers 
brings sorrow and suffering both to himself and his 
neighbor. 

Every one knows, too, that the idle man is never a 
happy man. The soul docs not expand but collapses 
by idleness. It does not grow but withers under it. 
Man is not vivified but deadened by it. It is only by 
some kind of occupation requiring the exercise of our 
mental powers, that the mind is excited, vivified and de- 
lighted (C. L. 207). The most unhappy people in the 
world are those who have no regular occupation, and 
no clearly defined purpose in life. 

But it is essential to our highest happiness here, not 



V IN I 

we be busily 1 

he lov 
fill. True human life everywhere ha 

to other beings outside of it and will ever seek 

ultimate itself in truly human acts. It is the 1 

ring or d ood to others — at the same time ac- 

knowl the Lord as the source of this '. md 

of the dispos md power to do good. Because tl 

life is truly human, it must seek to ultimate itself in 
deeds which tend to promote human welfare. If a man 

ly lov neighbor, and knows how to serve and 

bless him, he cannot leave the service unperformed ; if 
he should, his neighborly love would soon depart. True 
love is ever active in doing for others. Soon as it ceases 
to do — to bless — it ceases to be. The happiest people 
in the world are those most actively engaged in some 
useful occupation, and who work from the love of ren- 
dering themselves in the highest degree useful. The 
while on earth, enjoy a foretaste of heaven. They re- 
ceive an influx of heavenly delights, just in the d 
that they use their gifts for the promotion of heavenly 
ends. And on the other hand the goods and truths of 
heaven with their delights, are lost or taken away if not 

d for the benefit of the neighbor. The Lord plainly 
teaches this in the parable of the talents. They who 
used what was committed to them, gained thereby other 
talents, and were pronounced "good and faithful s 
van orthy of an entrance into the joy of their 

Lord; while he who hid his talent, or neglected to use 
it, lost through such neglect what was committed to 
him, and was declared a wicked and slothful servant, 
worth}' only to be cast into " the outer darkness." 



Thi n, is an everlasting law — a law to which an- 

1s in heaven and men on earth arc alike subject — that 
the rich tre< of the heart arc increased by being 

used, and diminished if not used. Nothing is more cer- 
tain than this. The more we exercise patience, the more 
patient we become. The more we do justly, the more 
are our hearts imbued with the love of justice. The 
more scrupulously we obey the laws of the heavenly 
life, the more delight do wc find in obeying them, and 
the more do wc receive of the spirit of those laws. The 
more faithfully and unselfishly we devote ourselves to 
any worthy cause or useful calling— the more we give 
of affection and thought and study and effort to the up- 
building of God's kingdom, the more is our affection for 
the things of that kingdom strengthened, our capacity 
for receiving them enlarged, and the freer and more 
abundant is their influx. Agreeable to these words of 
the Lord : " Give, and it shall be given unto you." Give 
love and sympathy, and your love and sympathy will 
increase. Give patience and kindness and tenderness and 
generosity, and you will receive a larger measure of 
these same graces. Exercise courage, and you will grow 
more courageous. Do justly, and your sense of justice 
will become keener and your love of justice stronger. 
Practice the laws of the heavenly life, and fresh incre- 
ments of that life and clearer views of its laws will flow 
into your soul day by day. The more you do to en- 
hten and purify and bless others, the more of the light 
and purity and unselfish devotion of heaven will be 
poured into you from on high. As saith the incarnate 
Word: "For unto every one that hath shall be given, 



)RK IN HEAV1 

and he shall have abundance; 91 and "with what mea 
urc ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Th 
cm be no reception <>f the heavenly life, without the 
or th ame life, — that is, 

without the exe of the heavenly graces; and the 

of these involves the performance of heavenly 

US( 

Thus do reason, analogy, human experience and Sa- 
cred Scripture unite to prove that the denizens of heav< n 
must be actively employed; and since they are all hu- 
man, their employments must be human. They must 
be such employments as are suitable to human beings- 
such as proceed from and agree with true human love. 
But there is in heaven as on earth an endless diversity 
of character and state. Therefore we should expect an 
endless variety of occupations there as here. We should 
expect societies and individuals to have such occupations 
as correspond to their different states. Accordingly 
Swedenborg says : 

" The employments of heaven are innumerable, and 
various according to the offices of the societies. Every 
society performs a peculiar office ; for as the societies 
are distinct according to goods, so are they also accord- 
ing to uses, since goods with all in heaven are goods in 
act, which are uses. Every one there performs a use, 
for the kingdom of the Lord is a kingdom of uses. 

"There are, in heaven as on earth, various adminis- 
trations; for there are ecclesiastical affairs, civil affairs 
and domestic affairs. 

" Ecclesiastical affairs in heaven are under the charge 

of those who, when in the world, loved the Word and 

earnestly sought for the truths which it contains, not 

for the sake of honor or gain but for the sake of the use 

29 W 



38 HEAVEN REVEALED. 



of life, both their own and others. These are in illus- 
tration and in the light of wisdom in heaven according 
to their love and desire of use; for they come into that 
light in heaven from the Word, which is not natural 

their as in the world, but spiritual. These perform the 
office of preachers. 

11 Civil affairs are administered by those who, while in 
the world, loved their country and its general good in 
preference to their own; and did what is just and right 
from the love of justice and rectitude. Such men pos- 
sess capacity for administering offices in heaven in pro- 
portion as their love of rectitude has prompted them to 
inquire into the laws of justice, and thence to become 
intelligent. The offices which they administer corre- 
spond exactly to the degree of their intelligence; and 
their intelligence is then in like degree also with their 
love of use for the general good." — 1 1. II. n. 387, '8, '93. 

But employments in heaven are not the same as they 
are on earth. Here they are for the most part natural ; 
but in heaven they are altogether spiritual. And be- 
tween natural and spiritual employments there is a cor- 
respondence like that between body and soul. 

"The correspondence of natural with spiritual things, 
or of the world with heaven, is effected by uses, and 
uses conjoin them ; and the forms with which uses are 
clothed, are correspondences and mediums of conjunc- 
tion in proportion as they are forms of use. . . The ac- 
tions of man are uses in form, and are correspondences 
whereby he is conjoined to heaven, so far as he lives 
according to divine order. 

44 Every one in heaven is in his work according to 
corn spondence ; and the correspondence is not with the 
work, but with the use of every work. lie in heaven 
who is in an employment or work- corresponding to his 



WORK ix i a: wrx. 

use, is in a state of life exactly like that in which he was 
in the world, — for what is spiritual and what is natural 
act as one by correspondence, — hut with this difference: 
that he is in more interior delight, because in spiritual 
life which is interior life, and hence more receptive of 
heavenly blessedness." — II. If. n. 112, 394. 

The employments of heaven exceed those of this 
world in number and variety as much as the denizens 
of heaven outnumber those of earth. The nature of 
some of them may be inferred from what is said of the 
various administrations there; and some are specifically 
mentioned. 

11 There are societies whose employments consist in 
taking care of infants; there are other societies whose 
employments are to instruct and educate them as they 
grow up ; others who in like manner instruct and edu- 
cate boys and girls who are of a good disposition from 
education in the world, and who thence come into 
heaven ; others who teach the simple good from the 
Christian world, and lead them in the way to heaven ; 
others who perform the same office for the various Gen- 
tile nations ; others who defend novitiate spirits, — those 
who have recently eome from the world, — from infesta- 
tions by evil spirits; some who are attendant on those 
in the lower earth ; some who are present with those in 
hell, and restrain them from tormenting each other be- 
yond the prescribed limits ; and some who attend upon 
those who are being raised from the dead. 

" In general, angels of every society are sent to men, 
that they may guard them, and withdraw them from 
evil affections and consequent evil thoughts, and inspire 
them with good affections so far as they receive them 
freely. By means of these affections also they rule the 
deeds or works of men, removing from them evil inten- 
tions as far as possible. . . . But all these employments 



340 HEA J r EN RE J '/•:,/ I i.n. 

ofthe angels are functions performed by the Lord through 
them; for they perform them not from themselves, but 
from the Lord 

44 These employments of the angels are their general 

employments. But to each one is assigned his particular 

for every general use is composed of innumerable 

others which are called mediate, ministering and sub- 

servient uses." IT. II. n. 391. 

In heaven as on earth some employments are superior 
to others in point of dignity and importance ; but no one 
there arrogates to himself the dignity, or thinks himself 
superior to others because of the superiority of his use. 
Personally the angels are all on a level ; and they never 
think of the honor and dignity of any use as belonging 
to themselves, but to the Lord alone, from whom comes 
all their love of use, and their ability and skill in its per- 
formance. 

" The wiser angels take charge of those things belong- 
in;.; to the general good or use; and the less wise, of 
such as relate to particular goods or uses ; and so on. 
They are subordinated just as in divine order uses are 
subordinated. Hence also dignity is attached to every 
employment according to the dignity of the use. No 
angel, however, arrogates the dignity to himself, but as- 
cribes it all to the use. And because use is the good 
which he performs, and all good is from the Lord, there- 
fore he ascribes it all to the Lord. Wherefore he who 
thinks of honor for himself and thence for use, and not 
for use and thence for himself, cannot perform any office 
in heaven ; for he looks backward from the Lord, regard- 
ing himself in the first place and use in the second. 
When use is spoken of, the Lord also is meant; because 
use is good, and good is from the Lord. 

" From these considerations it may be inferred what 



'A' A' IN h V. 

subordinations in the heavens are ; namely, thai 

one lo ems and honors i 

.ml honors the person t<> whom that i ad- 

joined; ami also that the person is loved, esteemed and 

honored in the degree th.it he dofcs not ascribe the use 

to himself, hut to the Lord ; for in that degree he is wise, 
and the uses which he performs are performed from a 
principle of good. 

11 Spiritual love, esteem and honor are nothing else than 
the love, esteem anil honor of use in the person who 
performs it ; and the honor of the person is from the 
use, and not that of the use from the person. I Ie also 
who regards men from spiritual truth, regards them in 
no other way ; for he sees that one man is like another, 
whether he be in great dignity or in little; that they 
differ only in wisdom, and that wisdom consists in loving 
use, and thus in loving the good of a fellow-citizen, of 
society, of the country and of the church. In this also 
consists love to the Lord, because all good which is the 
good of use, is from the Lord ; and love toward the 
neighbor also, because the neighbor is the good which 
is to be loved in a fellows-citizen, society, the country and 
the church, and which is to be done to them." — H. II. 
n. 389, 90. 

Look, now, at the practical bearing of this teaching. 
What kind of influence is it calculated to exert on the 
lives of those who accept it? The teaching briefly 
summarized, is: That the kingdom of heaven is a king- 
dom of uses, and every dweller therein is a form of use ; 
that no one can experience the delights of heaven, until 
there is developed in him a genuine love of use; that 
the heavenly inhabitants are all actively employed, each 
in that particular use which he loves and is constitu- 
tionally fitted to perform best; that their innumerable 
29 * 



342 // \ REVEALED. 

employments arc all human — all answering the demands 
of true human love, and tending to the advancement of 

human happiness; that every angel does his appointed 
work, not from any selfish end, but from the exquisite 
delight he finds in rendering useful service; and that 
the higher the use, and the purer the love that one 
carries into its performance, and the more earnestly 
he devotes himself to it, the more exalted and abundant 
IS his happiness. 

Now, take this doctrine along with that other, that 
each one carries his own life with him into the other 
world, and what is the conclusion? Why, that every 
person who would enter heaven, must first become a form 
of use in the kingdom of God; for such are all the angels. 
1 le must diligently cultivate, and to some extent acquire 
while here on earth, the love of use. Every believer will, 
therefore, seek to know what his peculiar powers of body 
and mind qualify him to do best; and that he will do, 
thinking less of personal reward than of the use, and try- 
ing to work from a love of this latter. Thus will he con- 
secrate to USE — or, what is equivalent, to the service of 
God — all his powers of body and mind. He will study to 
learn the highest use of them all, and will regard him- 
self merely as a steward bound to use his Master's goods 
in a manner most agreeable to his Master's will. He 
will not be idle, but an earnest worker. He will not 
ask, What shall /gain by doing this or that? but Will 
it be useful? — will it benefit the church, the community, 
the country, or mankind? lie will not inquire, What 
occupation will bring me most of honor or emolument, 
but what one do my gifts of bod)' and mind qualify me 



WORK IN HE AVI 

to perform best ? For he will sec that every occupa- 
tion which is useful, is honorable and praiseworthy in 
the sight of God, so it be honorably performed. 

And since God intended that all men should be 

brethren, therefore there is a mutual dependence and a 
bond of brotherhood among the innumerable occupa- 
tions of men, from that of the monarch on his throne 
or the president in his chair of state, down to the hum- 
ble scavenger and sable chimney-sweep. They are all 
fraternally allied — bound together like the innumerable 
parts of the human body. Therefore every one who 
labors faithfully in his calling, should be respected in 
his use and according to his use. 

The belief has been entertained even by professed 
Christians, that labor is a curse inflicted on mankind as 
a penalty for the transgression of the first human pair; 
and the literal sense of the Bible favors this idea. Hence 
the conclusion, that in heaven there can be nothing in 
the nature of work, since the curse must there be re- 
moved. Hence also the idea, hitherto prevalent even 
in Christian lands, that there is something degrading 
and servile in work ; and that they are the special favor- 
ites of heaven, whose circumstances relieve them from 
the necessity of doing any kind of work, — as if idleness 
were bliss. 

With all such fantasies the doctrine revealed through 
Swedenborg is seen to be directly at war. Its obvious 
tendency is to exalt and dignify all useful labor; to 
make industry everywhere honorable, idleness every- 
where contemptible. It shows us that persons who 
neither have nor desire any useful work, are living a 



344 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

life far removed from that of heaven ; and unless they 
change their course, and try to be of some use in the 
world, they will never reach the abodes of the blessed. 
And on the other hand it shows us that all who devote 
themselves to some useful occupation, and endeavor to 
discharge its duties with religious fidelity, are laying up 
for themselves treasures in heaven. They are offering 
to God the most acceptable worship; for how can we 
more truly glorify our Father in the heavens, than by 
diligently occupying ourselves about our Father's busi- 
ness ? — employing the powers bestowed by Him, in 
rving and blessing our fellow men? — working under 
the promptings of his unselfish love, and the guiding 
light of his revealed wisdom ? "Herein is my Father 
glorified, that ye bear much fruit." This — the faithful 
performance of uses from the love of use — is regarded 
in heaven as the truest worship. 

44 The real worship of the Lord," says Swedenborg, 
" consists in performing uses ; and uses consist, during a 
man's life in the world, in every one discharging aright 
his function in his respective station; thus in serving 
his country, society, and his neighbor, from the heart, 
and in acting with sincerity in all his associations, and 
in performing duties prudently according to the quality 
of each. These uses are principally the exercises of 
charity, and those whereby the Lord is principally wor- 
shiped. Frequenting the temple, hearing sermons, 
and saying prayers are also necessary things; but with- 
out the above uses they avail nothing, for they are not 
of the life, but teach what the quality of the life should 
be. The angels in heaven have all happiness from uses 
and according to uses, insomuch that uses are to them 
heaven." — A. C. n. 7038. 



WORK IN HEAVEN. 

re of any doctrine more wholesome in 
its tendency, or more eminently practical, than thi 
It points us to a life of active, faithful, sell 

vice, as the sure- pathway to the realms of bliss ; and tells 
us that all who hope to enter there, mustbegin on earth 

to tread this pathway, — begin here to become forms of 
u^e in the kingdom of God, as all the angels are. Tt 
adds new meaning and emphasis to the words of one 
of our poets : 

" Work — and thou shaft bless the clay 

Ere the toil be done : — 
They that work not cannot play, 

Cannot feel the sun. 
God is living, working still; 

All things work and move; 
Work, wouldst thou their beauty feel, 

And thy Maker's love." 

And affirms, as an absolute certainty, the reasonable con- 
clusion of another, who sings so sweetly the truth which 
every gifted child of song cannot fail to see — 

" Surely there must be work to do in heaven, 

Since work is the best thing on earth we know ; 
Life were but tasteless bread, without this leaven — 
A draught from some dead river's overflow. 



il Work is the holiest thing in earth or heaven : 
To lift from souls the sorrow and the curse — 
This dear employment must to us be given 
While there is want in God's great universe. 

" There must be work for us to do in heaven, 

that were a less blessed place than this : 

The worthiest impulse to our earth-life given, 
Must still be felt amid celestial bliss." * 

* Lucy Larcum in the Christian Union for Oct. 9, 1S84. 



346 HEAVEN REVE !//:/>. 

Let this New doctrine concerning life in heaven be 
generally accepted, and become thoroughly imbedded 

in the popular mind and heart, and what a stupen- 
dous change in human society would speedily be 
wrought! Heaven brought down to earth! The Fa- 
ther's will done here below, as it is done in the realms 
above! What activity, contentment, abundance, har- 
mony, peace and joy would be here! Millions of hu- 
man beings all praising God by the diligent and loving 
performance of uses, in the blessings of which all alike 
are sharers ! 

Look at the doctrine in a practical point of view, and 
see if it be not worthy the high origin claimed for it. 
Consider what must be its legitimate fruits, and judge 
it by this divine standard ; " for every tree is known by 
its own fruit.'' Surely a doctrine, the obvious tendency 
of which is so good and wholesome, cannot be false, nor 
can it have emanated from the darkness of the abyss. 
For it bears upon its front the very signet of God, the 
impress of his unfathomable love. 



XXVII. 
77/K THREE HEAVENS, AND HOW RELATED. 

THE great merit of Swedenborg's pneumatology, 
and that which entitles it to the serious considera- 
tion of all thoughtful people, is, that it is based on the 
enti&l nature of the human soul. It is a legitimate 
outgrowth, as we have shown in the previous chapters, 



THE THR 347 

11 the known laws of our mental and moral constitu- 
tion. And since these laws arc all Cod's own, and as 

eternal and unchangeable as Himself, therefore anysys- 

tem of pneumatology founded upon them, is founded 
upon the Rock of Vges, and will endure forever. On 

the other hand, any system which is not so based, or is 

not the normal outgrowth from our human nature, how- 
ever beautiful it may be as a fancy sketch, rots on a 
Sandy foundation, and sooner or later is sure to be re- 
jected. 

\Vc hav n all along how intimately the whole 

economy of the spiritual world as revealed through Swe- 
denborg, links itself with all that is known of man's 
spiritual and immortal part. We have seen that his dis- 
closures concerning the essential nature of heaven, its 
form or order, its social arrangements, its employments, 
the personal appearance of its denizens, etc., are in strict 
accord both with the revealed laws of the heavenly life 
and the implanted instincts and potencies of our human 
nature. We have seen that, through the operation of 
the heavenly life within, the reported order, beauty and 
perfection of the heaven without, unfold themselves as 
naturally and necessarily as the plant unfolds itself from 
the seed or the flower from the bud under the influence 
of a vernal sun. And this becomes more apparent and 
striking the farther we push our inquiries into the abodes 
of the blessed as unveiled by the Swedish sage. 

We come now to consider that trinal distinction of 
the angelic heavens of which Swedenborg so often speaks, 
to inquire into the grounds and origin of that distinc- 
tion, and endeavor to ascertain if it has any solid or 



343 HEAVEN REVEALED. 

ientific basis; in other words, to inquire whether his 
ure on this point is true. 

Since the Lord alone is Life, and the only source of 
life to angels and men, therefore He IS the all-in-all of 
n. But in Him there exists a trinal distinction — 
a trinity of divine essentials. These are, Divine Love, 
Divine Wisdom, and Divine Operation ; called by Swe- 
denborg the Essential Divine, the Divine Human, and 
the Divine Proceeding; and referred to in the New Tes- 
tament by the terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We 
have a good illustration of this Divine Trinity in the 
natural sun, the three essentials of which are heat, light, 
and their proceeding operation. These three are united 
in the sun, and are its essentials; for neither of them can 
exist apart from the other two. This illustration is per- 
fect ; for the sun's heat corresponds to the Divine Love, 
its light to the Divine Wisdom, and their joint operation 
to the sphere of the Divine Activity, or the proceeding 
influence of the Lord's love and wisdom. 

And as man was created in the Divine image and like- 
ness, therefore there must be in him a trinal distinction 
imaging, in some degree at least, the trinity in God. 
There being a manifest trine of essentials in the Divine 
Being from whom is all our life, there must of necessity 
be three discrete degrees of life in the soul which is the 
I man. And as the kingdom of heaven is within, it 
follows that there must be in general three heavens sep- 
arated by discr s. These are, we are told — 
and this is precisely as it should be — related like end, 
Cause, and effect, or like Love, Wisdom, and Operation 
(o; in the Lord, And ever)' man after death enters 



THE THA 

that particular heaven which has been previously op n 
and formed in him; P ry one then i into the 

state of his interiors, or into the enjoyment of just that 

kind o\ lite which i with the kind of truth he had 

eived and religiously obeyed. If only the lowest form 
o( truth has been received, and the lowest degree <>f his 
mind opened, he enters the first or lowest heaven. If 
the second degree of his mind has been opened, he 
enters the middle or second heaven. And if the third 
degree has been opened, he enters the third or highest 
/en. 

Thus the heaven which each one will enter after death, 
will depend upon the kind or degree of life to which he 
has attained, or upon the heaven which has been opened 
and formed within him during his sojourn on earth. He 
cannot then receive and appropriate a higher degree of 
life, and therefore cannot enter any higher heaven. And 
in an)' lower heaven his measure or degree of life would 
not be full. 

We thus see that the existence of three angelic heav- 
ens in general (there are innumerable societies in each 
of these heavens), follows as a logical conclusion from 
the existence of three degrees of life in man. And these 
degrees exist from the trinity in God, in whose image 
and likeness, the Scripture tells us, man was originally 
created. Many passages might be cited from Sweden- 
borg in confirmation of what we have here said; but 
the following are sufficient: 

" There are three heavens quite distinct from each 
other; the inmost or third, the middle or second, and 
the ultimate or first. They follow in order and arc mu- 



3 50 HEA J EN RE I '/■:. i L ED. 

tually related like the highest part of man, which is 
called the hcid; his middle, which is the body; and the 
lowest, which is the feet . . The Divine which proceeds 

and descends from the Lord is also in similar order. 
Therefore, from the necessity of order, heaven is three- 
fold. 

u The interiors of man arc also in similar order. He 
has an inmost, a middle and an ultimate. For when man 
was created all things of divine order were collated into 
him, so that he was made divine order in form, and 
thence a heaven in miniature. For this reason also he 
communicates with the heavens as to his interiors, and 
comes among the angels after death ; among those of 
the inmost, middle or lowest heaven, according to his 
reception of divine good and truth from the Lord during 
his life in the world. 

" It is to be carefully noted that the interiors of the 
angels are what determine their situation in one or the 
other of these heavens ; for the more their interiors are 
open to the Lord, the more interior is the heaven in 
which they dwell. There are three degrees of the inte- 
riors with every one, whether angel, spirit or man. They 
with whom the third degree is open, are in the inmost 
heaven; they with whom the second degree is open, 
are in the middle heaven; and the)' with whom only 
the first degree is open, are in the lowest heaven. 

"The interiors are opened by the reception of divine 

od and divine truth. They who are affected with di- 
vine truths, and admit them immediately into the life, 
that is, into the will and thence into act, are in the in- 
most or third heaven, and are situated in that heaven 
according to their reception of good from the affection 
of truth. But the\- who do not admit them immediately 
into the will, but into the memory and thence into the 
understanding, and from that will and do them, arc in 
the middle or second heaven. While they who live a 
moral life, and believe in a Divine Being, and care but 



little about being instructed, are in the lowest or I 
heaven. 

" Hence it may be manifest that the stales of the in- 
teriors make heaven, and that heaven is within every 

one and not without him; as the Lord also teaches 
( I aike xvii. 20, 2 l ). 

44 All perfection also increases toward the interiors and 

decreases toward the exteriors ; because interior thill 
are nearer the Divine, and in themselves purer; hut ex- 
terior things are more remote from the Divine, and in 
themselves grosser. . . Since the interiors of the angels 

of the inmost heaven are open to the third degree, there- 
fore their perfection immensely surpasses that of the 
angels of the middle heaven, whose interiors arc open 
to the second decree. In like manner the perfection 
of the angels of the middle heaven surpasses that of the 
angels of the ultimate heaven." — H. H. n. 29-34. 

" It is known that there are three heavens, the inmost, 
the middle and the ultimate, or the third, the second 
and the first: all those heavens were represented by the 
tabernacle. . . The reason why there are three heavens 
is, that there are three degrees of life in man (for man 
who becomes an angel after death, constitutes heaven, 
nor have the angels or the heavens any other origin); 
the inmost degree of his life is for the inmost heaven ; 
the middle degree of life for the middle heaven; and 
the ultimate for the ultimate heaven. And since man 
is such, or so formed, and heaven is from the human 
race, therefore there are three heavens. Those degrees 
of life in man are opened successively; the first degree 
by a life according to what is equitable and just; the 
second degree by a life according to the truths of faith 
from the Word, and according to the goods of charity 
toward the neighbor thence ; and the third degree ac- 
cording to the good of mutual love, and the good of 
love to the Lord : these are the means whereby arc sue- 



// V REVEALED. 

SStvely opened those three degrees of life in man, thus 
the three heavens in him. 

"But it is to be known that so far as man recedes 
from good of life, and accedes to evil of life, SO far these 
degrees are closed, that is, so far the heavens in him are 
closed; for as the good of life opens them, so evil of life 
closes them : hence it is, that all who are in evil are out 
of heaven, that is, in hell. And since the heavens in 
man are successively opened according to the good of 
his life, as was said above, it is to be known that, on this 
account, in some the first heaven is opened and not the 

COnd, and in some the second heaven is opened and 
not the third; and that the third heaven is opened in 
those only, who are in good of life from love to the 
Lord." — A. C. n. 9594. See also A. C. n. 1642, '7. 3691, 
5145, 9825, 10,150. D. L. \V. n. 202, 236-9. Influx 
n. 1 

We have said that the three angelic heavens are re- 
lated to each other like the head, trunk and extremities 
of the human body. The same is said in one of the 
above extracts ; and in D. L.W. n. 202, that "the thoughts 
of the angels of the highest or third heaven are thoughts 
of cm\^, and the thoughts of those of the middle or 
second heaven are thoughts of causes, and the thoughts 
of those of the lowest or first heaven are thoughts of 
effects;" thus showing the three heavens to be related 
like end, cause and effect. 

Now if the doctrine concerning the human form of 
heaven as developed in a previous chapter be true, it 
follows as a logical sequence that there must be in gen- 
ii three heav< tis related like head, trunk and extrem- 
ities. Othei the whole heaven would not be in the 
hum, m form, that is, not in true human order. The 



THE THREE HEAVl 353 

id is not only the 1 ;1 part of the body, but is in 

respect si r to the ether parts. It is the part 

m which arc located the organs of sense, whereby the 
bodily movements are determined and the physical life 
preserved. Thus, in relation to the other parts of the 
body, the head is the supreme, guiding and directing 

ran. Hence in every larger or collective man, it is 
usual to hear the supreme and directing power called 
the head. A military general is called the head of the 
army because he plans and directs its movements. So 
a king or president, with his constitutional advisers, is 
called the head of the government; and his cabinet 
officers are called the heads of the several departments 
of the government The principal teacher in a school 
is the head of the school ; the best scholar in a class is 
the head of his class ; the chief owner and director of a 
factory or mercantile firm, is the head of the establish- 
ment. 

Thus, in every association or corporate body the 
member which is invested with, or acknowledged as 
having, the right to direct, is called the head. And the 
fact of his being a governing or directing member, im- 
plies that he is in ends, or in the thought of ends. And 
Swedenborg tells us that the angels of the highest or 
third heaven, who constitute the head of the Grand 
Man, are in the thought of ends. 

But what can the head of an individual do without 
the body and extremities? The body serves as the 
means, and the extremities are the servants or opera- 
tives. Thus the head, through the intermediate agency 
of the trunk, sets the extremities in motion, and thereby 
30* X 



55 \ //• • /'/ VEALED. 

accomplishes the L-nd^ at which it aims. The body or 
trunk, therefore, viewed in relation to the head, is seen 
to be a means or secondary cause; and the act of the 

extremities, through this means, under the direction of 
the head, is the effect. Accordingly Swedenborg says 

that the angels of the second heaven, who form as it 
were the trunk of the Grand Alan, are in causes, or in 
the thought of causes; and that the first or lowest 
heaven, who constitute the extremities of the Grand 

Man, are in effects, or in the thought of effects. 

We thus see that the three heavens, connected like 
the head, trunk and extremities of the human body, and 
really constituting these parts of the Grand Man re- 
spectively, are also related like end, cause and effect, 
— the angels of the highest heaven being more espe- 
cially in ends, those of the middle heaven in causes, and 
those of the lowest in effects. And even' individual 
viewed spiritually, is a miniature of the Grand Man, and 
therefore embodies in himself the same trine of end, 
cause and effect. He aims to do something — the end. 
lie thinks of haw he shall do it — the cause. And the 
act when done i is the effect. 

But ht us pursue our inquiry a step further, and no- 
tice the beautiful and striking correspondence between 
these three parts of the body and the three angelic 
heavens. 

Looking at the parts more interiorly, we find that 
the principal contents of the head are the brain, which 
is the most refined, delicate and sensitive of all the bod- 
ily tissues. It is the seat of sensation, motion and life. 
It is the great centre of the nervous system, under 



V.v 

whose vital influence or direction as it were, d >n, 

nutrition, circulation, ami all the functions of the animal 
-noniy arc carried ^n. Next in rank' and offi 
viscera of tli • thorax and abdomen, embracing the 
whole respiratory, circulatory, digestive and nutritive ap- 
paratus. These are less delicate in their structure than 
the brain, and endowed, so to speak, with a lower de- 
gree of life. They include, however, all the means 
whereby, under the direction of the brain and nervous 
system, the various tissues are supplied with their ap- 
propriate nourishment and sustained in healthy action. 
But the extremities are still lower in rank, farther re- 
moved from the centre of life, less refined and less deli- 
cate in their structure. They consist for the most part 
of coarser and harder materials, such as bones, muscles 
and cartilages — yet all admirably adapted to the uses 
they were intended to perform. 

Now, corresponding precisely to these relative de- 
grees of vitality, refinement, delicacy of structure, etc., 
in the principal constituents of these three parts of the 
body, arc the relative degrees of life enjoyed by the an- 
gels of the three heavens, according to Swedenborg's 
disclosures. For he says that the angels of the third 
or highest heaven, who are also the most interior, are 
the most innocent and perfect, and in the highest degree 
of life, because spiritually nearest the Lord, the Foun- 
tain of life — that is, most like Him ; that the angels of 
the middle heaven who are less interior, are in a lower 
degree of good and truth, less perfect, and farther re- 
moved from the Lord ; and that those of the lowest 
heaven who are in the most external state, are still 



HEAVEN RE VEALED. 

more remote from the Lord, thus in a lower degree of 

»(1 and truth, and less perfect. All of which agrees 

with the universal law announced in these words, and 

often repeated by Swedenhor 

41 All perfection increases toward the interiors, because 
interior beings are nearer the Divine and in themselves 
purer; but exterior things are more remote from the 
Divine, and in themselves grosser." — II. II. 34. See 
also A. C. 1799, 3405, 5146, '7. 

It will be noticed, too, that Swcdenborg's disclosures 
on this subject are in perfect agreement with the apostle 
Paul's testimony. For in one of his letters to the Cor- 
inthian church he says : " I will come to visions and 
revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about 
fourteen years ago (whether in the body I cannot tell, 
or whether out of the body I cannot tell: God know- 
eth): Mich an one caught up to the third heaven. And 
1 knew such a man . . how that he was caught up into 
paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not 
possible (oOx Igov — see Schleusner's Greek and Latin Lex- 
icon) for a man to utter" (2 Cor. xii. 1-4). 

All Christians, therefore, who regard the testimony 
of the groat apostle as credible, must believe that there 
are at least three heavens. And we may remark in pass- 
ing, that Swedenborg's pneumatology shows us how 
Paul was caught up to the third heaven. It was not by 
any elevation through natural space, for heaven is not 
to bo approached in that way; but by the opening of 
the third or high< St degree of his mind, together with 
the spiritual S belonging to that degree. In this 

way he had a vision of things in the inmost or third 



whether Ik- was in the b< - tut 

of it And his testimony in regard to the unspeakal 
words he heard, "which it is not possible for a man 
to i is in | mentwith Swedenb re- 

Concerning the speech of spirits and angels, 
he says : 

"The speech of angelic spirits is incomprehensible. 
. . But the speech of angels is ineffable, far above that 

of spirits because above that of angelic spirits, and not 
at all intelligible to man so long as he lives in the body. 

" The speech of the celestial angels [those of the third 
heaven] is distinct from that of the spiritual an n*\ 

is still more ineffable and inexpressible. . . It is much 
more full and abundant, for they are in the 1 very foun- 
tains and origins of the life of thought and speech." — 
A. C. n. 143/5, '7- 

But every angelic society, we are told, when viewed 
collectively, appears in the human form, which is the 
form of the whole heaven; "because, in the most per- 
fect form which is the form of heaven, the parts bear a 
likeness to the whole, and the least reflects the greatest." 
Consistently with this, therefore, there should be a trine 
in each of the angelic heavens, and in each angelic so- 
ciety, simulating the three-fold division of the whole 
heaven. Accordingly Swedenborg says : 

"That there are three heavens, is a known thing; 
consequently three degrees of goods and truths there-. 
Every heaven also is distinguished into three degrees, 
for its inmost must communicate immediately with what 
is superior, its external with what is inferior; and the 
middle thus, by means of the inmost and the external, 
with both; hence is its perfection. The case is similar 
with the interiors of man, which in general are distin- 



33 s HI V REVEALED. 

guished into three d< . viz., celestial, spiritual and 

natural ; in like manner each of these into its three de- 
; for the man who is in the good of faith and love 
to the Lord, is a heaven in the least form correspond- 
in- to the greatest; so in all things of nature. . . Hence 
it is that three in the Word signifies what is complete 
from beginning to end." — A. C. 11.9825. Also A. R. 876. 

" All in heaven are collected into societies, and the 
societies exist in vast numbers, and each society in its 
own place forms three heavens." — L. J. n. 27. 

And this, again, may be seen beautifully illustrated in 
the human bod)', the visible image of the order of heaven. 
For every muscle in the body is a bundle of fibres, and 
each of these fibres is a collection of smaller threads or 
fibrillar Every nerve is a collection of filaments, each 
of which is a collection of still smaller fibres. Every 
gland is a congregation of smaller glands, and each of 
these a conglobation of others still more minute. And 
the same thrce-foldness exists throughout all the king- 
doms of nature. First, we have matter existing under 
three distinct forms, viz., solids, liquids, and gases — 
earth, water, and air — separated from each other by a 
discrete degree. Then there are the three natural king- 
doms, mineral, vegetable, and animal. And each of 
these, again, is tri-partite. The animal kingdom is dis- 
tinguished into beasts, birds, and fishes, corresponding 
to tin' three forms under which matter is known to exist, 
and respectively inhabiting the three elements, earth, 
air, and water. And in the ible kingdom we have 

ihrubs, and trees, separated also by discrete de- 
And if we descend from generals to particulars, 
we shall everywhere find the same three-fold order; for 



THE THR 

the order 11 as the things of heaven, are di tin* tly 

imaged in things of earth. 

- Everything in the world," says Sw,edenborg, "p 
n . the i dimensions, or called composite, is 

istituted of discrete degrees." And "although the 
fend, cause, and effect, is by discrete degrees, 
little or nothing is known in the 
world."- 1). LW, n. L89, '90. 

But if the three angelic heavens exist in accordance 
with the eternal laws of divine order, having their foun- 
dation, as we have said, in the constitution of the human 
soul, why, it will be asked, do we not see some illus- 
tration of this doctrine in the social or collective as well 
as in the individual man here on earth? There can he 
no law of human nature so deeply implanted as to de- 
termine the angelic heavens into one or another form, 
which does not manifest itself with greater or less dis- 
tinctness in this natural sphere. The veil of flesh which 
is here thrown over the spirit, is not sufficient to hide 
any of its deep-seated laws or fixed determinations. 
The same law which draws angels of like character into 
the same heavenly society, determines people everywhere 
on earth to seek the companionship of those most like 
themselves. And so with all biological laws. They 
exist and are alike operative in both worlds, the natural 
and the spiritual. Not more certainly does the form of 
the eagle while yet unfledged and in its shell, point to 
the future destiny of the bird and the element in which 
it is to move, than do the laws and tendencies of our 
human nature as manifested in the flesh, point to the 

neral order and arrangement of that world which is to 
be our final home. 



3fo Wl X REVEAL, 

What is there, then, in the larger of collective man, in 

the arrangements of human society here on earth, that 
foreshadows the trinal order of the angelic heavens? 
If we look at bodies of people, such as kingdoms, states, 

towns, or smaller companies organized for the perform- 
ance of some special use, what do we see? In the most 
advanced civilization (for it is here that we are to look 
for the fullest development and best illustration of bio- 
ical laws) we see in all these organized bodies, three 
distinct classes operating in as many distinct spheres, 
and requiring, for the due performance of their respec- 
tive duties, different kinds of knowledge, or different 
orders of natural truth, yet all working together simul- 
taneously, the will and wisdom of each uniting with that 
of the others in the final result. These three classes 
are the principals, the agents, and the operatives. The 
principals are in the thought of ends. They have the 
direction, decide what shall be done, and set the others 
to doing it. Thus they represent the head, and afford 
an illustration of the third or highest heaven whose den- 
izens are in ends, or in the thought of ends. The agents 
are in the thought of means or causes. They know how 
the intention of the principals is to be executed. They 
know what to do, and how to do it, in order that the 
end aimed at may be accomplished. Thus they repre- 
sent the trunk, and afford an illustration of the middle 
heaven whose denizens are said to be in causes, or the 
thought of causes. And the operatives are in the thought 
of (fleets. Their knowledge is more limited than that 
of the others — limited to doing, or knowing hoiv to do, 
what their superiors direct. The}' are mere obedienc 



THE THREE H VS. 

— instruments in the hands of others. Thus they re] 
sent the extremities, the hands and feet, which are moved 
by the body under the direction of the head; and they 
are as necessary to the completeness of this lar 

lective man, as the hands and feet are to the com- 
pleteness of the individual. We have in this class, there- 
in illustration of the first or lowest heaven, whose 
denizens are described by Swedenborg as mere " obedi- 
ences," and are said to be in the thought of effects. 

To see how naturally and necessarily people arrange 
themselves into this triple order in an advanced state 
of society, we will take a case by way of illustration. 
Let us look at a country as a single individual in larger 
form. A government is therein instituted for a definite 
purpose. And when duly organized and its machinery 
is in successful operation, what do we find? One class 
of men whose special function it is to conceive, plan and 
direct in the affairs of state, and who therefore consti- 
tute its head. And in well-organized governments this 
head must consist of a deliberative and an executive 
department — a law- making and a law-executing power 
— functions corresponding perfectly to those of the cer- 
ebrum and cerebellum in the head of every individual. 
This head of the government or state, too, is in the 
thought of ends. It conceives, plans, points out, directs. 
It decides what the country will do; when it will go to 
war and when make peace ; when and where it will pur- 
chase or sell territory; what foreign nations it will hold 
intercourse with, and what it will not; when and where 
it will erect fortifications, improve harbors, construct 
lighthouses, negotiate treaties, make internal improve- 



HEAVEN RE VI ALED 

ments, etc., etc. It is this organized head, therefore, 
whi ts the country in motion, and decides what it 

shall do. Thus it is manifestly in eh 

\ xt to the head or supreme class in this i/ed 

dy, the .state, we have another class who act as agents. 
The)' i\o not consider the wisdom or expediency of what 
the head decides to do. This is no part of their busi- 
ness. Therefore they have no need of the knowledge 

[uisite for settling such questions. ]>ut they know 
how to execute the intentions of those above them — 
how to accomplish the objects at which the head aims. 
They consist of all those officials who are appointed as 
agents in executing the designs of government, such 
as postmasters, collectors of customs, civil engineers, 
army and navy officers, superintendents of national 
Works, etc. This class are obviously in the thought of 
causes or means, having the knowledge of how to ac- 
complish the ends which their superiors (the head) con- 
ceive and desire. 

But this class of officials do not perform the manual 
labor that is necessary before the intentions of the head 
are ultimated. They do not sort, stamp and distribute 
the letters; they do not weigh, gauge and measure the 
imports; they do not carry the chain, arrows, compass, 
or theodolite; they do not shoulder the musket nor 
wheel the artillery ; they ^\o not handle the brick or 
trowel. But another class come in here, whose knowl- 
r l- more limited than that of either of the other two, 
ami who are, th e, lower in the scale oi natural in- 

telligence. They have not that reach of mental vision 
which belongs to the first or hi nor that su- 



pei intending and commandin nt, or thai < n 

knowledge and skill which » the second class. 

They do not know why a country 
or there, nor have they the knowledge or skill in mili- 
tary fortifications, which would qualify them to superin- 
tend its construction. They are mere artisans, with 1 
of mental (but | bly more of physical) ability than 
either ^( the other classes. Though unable to plan or 
engineer a fortification, they understand masonry and 
can lay brick and stone better than either of the classes 
above them. 

And .so with all the operatives who perform the work 
assigned them by the agents of government in each of 
its several departments. They are verily the hands of 
this organic body, which, set at work and directed by 
the intermediate class or trunk* execute the plans which 
the licad conceives and desires to have executed. And 
the work when completed is the product of the joint 
labor of these three classes who sustain to each other 
the relation of principals, agents, and operatives — high- 
est, middle, and lowest — head, trunk, and extremities — 
end, cause, and effect. And as the end Hows through 
the cause into the effect (which is the everlasting law of 
influx), or as the head, by means of the body, puts the 
extremities in motion, so this first class, by means of the 

:ond, set the third or operatives at work; and the 
combined knowledge and labors of the three are exhib- 
ited in the final result, which is the ultimate. 

And wherever, in an advanced stage of society, a 

>rk of an)- magnitude is to be done — as the construc- 
tion of a railroad, the building of a hip, the erection 



364 HEA I r EN RE J '/■. 1 L E 1 >. 

of a temple or Factory — the whole body of men engaged 

in it, will always be found distributed into three class 
hoi ling to each other the relation of end, cause, and 
:ct Which shows that the trinal distinction of the 
angelic heavens as disclosed by Swedenborg, is no fan- 
ciful or arbitrar\' division, but one founded on the very 
constitution of the human soul, and growing legitimately 
out of it. As there is a trinal distinction in the Divine 
Being, and three degrees of life in every soul, related 
like end, cause, and effect, so we find in every larger or 
collective man on earth, three corresponding degrees 
similarly related. The conclusion, therefore, seems easy 
and natural — yea, irresistible — that there must be three 
discrete degrees of life in heaven, consequently three 
heavens; and three discrete degrees of good and truth 
in the Sacred Scripture, suited to the wants or states of 
these three heavens respectively. So solid and secure 
is the foundation on which this doctrine of the three 
angelic heavens rests. 



XXVIIL 

ETERNAL PROGRESS IX HEAVEN. 

THAT change of mind and heart whereby a man is 
delivered from the bondage of selfish and worldly 
loves, and brought under the dominion of love to the 
Lord and the neighbor, is called regeneration. It is 
the soul's birth into a higher life, even the heavenly. 
It i not, however, a sudden but a gradual and pro] 



.\ . i / /\V( >gr v ///•'. / / v 

sive change, like all truly divine operations. [1 on 

during the whole period of man's pilgrimage on earth. 
" rhere is," says Swed nborg,"nod inate 

of a man's regeneration, in which he may say, 'now I 
am perfect;' for there arc innumerable states of evil 
and falsity with every man . . . all of which must be 
so entirely shaken off as to no longer appear." (A. C. 
n. 894.) And it is clear that these states cannot be all 
changed in a moment. Selfishness cannot he eradicated 
or thoroughly subdued, and disinterested love implanted 
in the heart, in an hour. Character is neither formed 
nor changed suddenly. It is a tiling of slow and grad- 
ual growth, like the progress from infancy to manhood. 
The kingdom of heaven cannot be instantly established 
and built up in any soul. It is always exceeding small 
at first — like a grain of mustard seed; but it grows un- 
til it becomes a tree, so that the birds may build their 
nests in the branches thereof. It is subject to the same 
divine law that governs all living things — the law of 
development, growth, progress. 

And here the question naturally arises, Does this law 
of progress exist in heaven as well as on earth ? Is 
there with the angels anything in the nature of spiritual 
improvement or growth ? — Anything like a progressive 
advancement toward higher and more perfect states of 
life? The following is Swedenborg's answer to this 
question : 

" Regeneration, or the implantation of heavenly life 

in man, commences from his infancy and continues 

even to the close of life in this world, and after death it 

goes on perfecting forever; and what is a secret, man's 

3i* 



HEAVEN REVEALED. 

generation in the world is only a plane for the per- 
fe< I F his life to eternity." — A. C n. 9331. 

"The arcana of r< ration arc innumerable and 

:ly at all known to man ; for the man who is prin- 
cipled in good, is reborn every moment from his ear- 
liest infancy to the last period of his life in the world, 
and afterwards to eternity." — Ibid. 5202. 

"The angels are being continually perfected by the 
Lord; yet they can never he perfected to such a degree 
that their wisdom and intelligence can be compared 
with the divine wisdom and intelligence of the Lord." 

— Ibid. 4295. 

"While the church is being established in man, lie is 
in truths, and by means of them good grows; but when 
established, he is then in good, and from £Ood in truths 
which in this case grow continually. The growth is, 
indeed, small during his life in the world, because ob- 
structed by cares for food and raiment and otherthings; 
but in the other life it is immense, and this perpetually 
to eternity; for the wisdom which is from the Divine 
has no end. Thus the angels and all who become an- 
gels when they come into the other life, are perfecting 
continually; for everything of wisdom is of infinite ex- 
tension, and the things of wisdom are infinite in nuni- 
tx r; hence it may be clearly seen that wisdom is capa- 
ble of growth to eternity." — Ibid. 6648. See also A. C. 
n.894, [941,1610,5122,7541,8325,8426,4803, 10,048. 

Extracts similar to the foregoing might be greatly 
multiplied. What is here quoted is Swedenborg's uni- 
form teaching on this subject; nowhere in his writings 
do we inert with anything contrary to this. 

Now, it must be conceded that there is something in 
the doctrine here enunciated, which produces an agree- 
able impression upon the mind on its first announce- 



S IN Hi II I 

m nt It is a doctrine which nnot help wi 

at least, might be true. It chimes in with every 01 
fondest hopes and noblest aspirations. ( >ur • in- 

ception of heaven demands for its full realization, that 
it should be a state of never-ending progress in knowl- 

;e, wisdom and love. .And as soon as we i to 

look at the subject from a rational point ^i view, I 

sons multiply for believing that what is here an- 
nounced, and is in such complete accord with the high- 
est hopes of all enlightened minds, must indeed be true. 

For, what reasonable objection can be urged against 
the doctrine ? What is to hinder eternal progress in the 
realms above ? There surely is ample room for it. There 
is only One Infinite and absolutely perfect Being. Com- 
pared with Him, what are the highest angels in respect 
to love and wisdom ? Less than the fire-fly's tiny spark 
compared with the sun's majestic blaze. The angels 
themselves perceive and acknowledge that all the love 
and wisdom they possess is momentarily received from 
the Lord ; and without such perception and acknowledg- 
ment, they would not be in heaven — would not be 
•Is. 

There is, then, spiritually speaking, an infinite distance 
between the Lord and the angels. And the latter may, 
therefore, go on advancing forever toward the Divine 
perfections, yet never reach them — never become abso- 
lutely perfect. And as every increase in love and wis- 
dom is accompanied by a corresponding increase of hap- 
piness, therefore the happiness of the denizens of heaven 

-uming that the doctrine here announced is true), will 
continue to increase throughout the endless a' r cs. 



] WEN REVEALED. 

Eternal progress, then, is clear])- among the possibili- 
the angelic state; and this may be taken as pre- 
sumptive evidence, at least, that the doctrine is true. 
For the Lord's essential nature is such that He must 

forever desire to draw all — angels as well as men — to 
Himself. His will toward all his children must be, that 
they continually "go on unto perfection," — continually 
approximate the Divine likeness. And if such be his 
will, such is virtually his command to the angels; and 
h a command implies the capability of endless prog- 

Furthermore, progress is everywhere an indispensable 

condition of the highest happiness. We must not for- 
I that angels are human beings. They are all in the 
human form, and were once inhabitants of the natural 
world. The)' are all, therefore, gifted with human facul- 
ties which are subject to fixed laws. Now it is well 
known that progress is an essential condition of the 
highest happiness on earth. However learned, wise and 
good a person may be, the consciousness of having at- 
tained the utmost limit of human perfection, and of ina- 
bility to receive any increase of knowledge, wisdom or 
love, while knowing that there exist degrees of excel- 
lence infinitely beyond his present attainments, — this 
would be a serious draw-back to his happiness. A per- 
Si >n of very moderate attainments, if conscious of a steady 
increase in wisdom, and of possessing the capacity for 
unlimited pr< 5, would be much happier than he who 

had attained a far higher spiritual eminence, but knew 
that all further progress was denied him. if heaven were 
an unprogressive state, therefore, it would be wanting in 



I 



'A I. . S /.Y : 



one of the conditions which we know to b itial to 

highest happiness On earth. Indeed v. 

hardly conceive of the angels as being happy, if the 

capacity for still higher human excellence were denied 
them. Certainly the angelic state would be less happy 

thout than with the condition of eternal progress. 

The truth of this doctrine maybe further argued from 
the intense activity which exists in heaven. Wherever 
there is life, there is activity; and the higher the life, 
the more intense the activity. And it is an eternal law 
that all our human powers — our intellectual and moral 
faculties not less than our bodily organs — arc expanded 
and strengthened by exercise. The man who daily ex- 
ercises his powers of memory, reasoning, calculation or 
analysis for a considerable length of time, finds that he 
thereby comes to remember, reason, calculate or analyze 
with ever-increasing facility. These faculties are im- 
proved by exercise. So with the moral feelings. A 
person who exercises himself habitually in deeds of 
kindness, grows more and more kind. The more one 
practises the laws of charity, the more he comes to love 
these laws, and the more charitable he grows. The more 
we sympathize with the unfortunate and sorrowing, the 
more tender and sympathetic we become. And on the 
other hand, by the unrestrained indulgence of our lower 
propensities — our pride, avarice, conceit and love of self 
— the more proud, avaricious, conceited and selfish we 
become through such indulgence. 

Nothing, indeed, is more certain than that all the 

powers of the intellect and all the dispositions of the 

heart are strengthened by exercise. And the more they 

Y 






O ///■ REVEALED. 



are exercised (provided there be no excess), the more 
docs their strength increase. There is no exception to 
this law. And since it is a law of mind, it must exist 
wherever finite minds exist, — for bodily death works no 
change in the laws of our mental constitution. The mind 
is the man — the real person in human form. This is 
immortal, and its laws are unalterable. Whatever laws, 
therefore, are known to govern the mind or spirit when 
clothed with flesh, will surely govern it in the great 
] Icreaftcr. 

Now, the angels being all images and likenesses of the 

;d, must reflect in some measure the light of his wis- 
dom and the warmth of his love. They love others 
better than them- therefore it is their delight to 

mmunicate of their love and wisdom to others. Such 
being their character, their highest and noblest faculties 
ing brought into constant exercise. Their love 
< f wisdom impels them to the fullest exertion of their 
intellectual faculties, and their love of each other finds 
its appropriate exercise in continued deeds of kindness 
and of use. And if the powers of the intellect and the 
dispositions of the heart are strengthened and improved 
by exercise, what then should result from the constant 

powers and dispositions in heaven? 
What, but continual growth, expansion, improvement? 
— continual increase ^i heavenly riches ? — continual 
;s toward perfection ? 

And this doctrine has also the support of holy Scrip- 
ture. Thus in the parable of the* talents, it is said that 
th" rvants who used (traded with) their talents, did 

th< them— gained besides them two and five 



/ PROGRESS IN HEAVE \J\ 

talents more; while he that received but one tal< nt, in- 

id of using, buried it in the earth, did thereby lo 
all that was given him. By which we are plainly taught, 
that the spiritual gifts bestowed by our Divine Master, 

arc increased by being properly used; while, if we 
neglect to use them — neglect the healthful exercise of 
our God-given powers — fail to practise the revealed laws 
of heavenly charity, we lose at length, through such 
neglect and failure, the inclination and power to use 
them. We show ourselves unprofitable servants, unwor- 
thy the powers or gifts bestowed. Hence that Divine 
decree : " Take therefore the talent from him and give 
it unto him who hath ten talents. For unto every one 
that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; 
but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even 
that which he hath."— Matt. xxv. 28, 9. 

Yes : The sure and everlasting law is, that heavenly 
treasures increase with the using. Heavenly dispositions 
and feelings are strengthened by exercise. Heavenly 
wisdom increases in proportion as the laws of the heav- 
enly life are religiously obeyed. In respect to spiritual 
things, therefore, it is given to every one according as 
he gives; in other words, according as he uses the gifts 
that God has bestowed on him ; agreeable to the Lord's 
own words : " Give, and it shall be given unto you ; good 
measure, pressed down, shaken together and running 
over, shall they give into your bosom." When we ex- 
ercise the graces of heaven, we impart unto others of 
our spiritual gifts ; and by the very act of imparting, our 
souls are opened to a fuller reception of the same gifts 
and graces. This is one of the law r s of our spiritual 



3 ; 2 ///•:,/ ; v-x re j '/■:. 1 1. r.n. 

life. It must, therefore, be a law of life with the angels, 
who arc simply human beings in a more advanced stage. 
And since they never desire any good merely for them- 
selves, but are ever willing and anxious to communicate 

their delights to others, therefore they must be contin- 
ually receiving fresh increments of love and wisdom 
from the Lord, and their progress must be unending. 

Besides, there is a two fold progress — progress through 
growth or the maturing of graces already acquired, and 
progress from the increase or multiplication of goods 
and truths. Every spiritual truth dropped into an hon- 
est heart, is as a seed sown in good ground. It springs 
up, and, if properly cared for, grows to maturity, and in 
due time brings forth fruit — the golden fruit of charity. 
And this fruit contains the seeds of new truths, which, 
falling into the same good ground, spring up and bear 
fruit, "some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred- 
fold." And so, through the multiplication of truths and 
the fructification of goods, the mind of a regenerate 
man (and the same is true of an angel) becomes like a 
beautiful garden adorned with all manner of trees, flow- 
ers and fruits, ever increasing in fertility and beaut}', and 
in the number, variety and richness of its products. 
This is the true paradise of God. This is the real mean- 
ing of that garden which it is said the Lord God planted 
tward in Eden, and wherein lie "caused to grow 
every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food ; 
the Tree of Life also in the midst of the garden." And 
now, as in the most ancient times, He places in this 
a every Adam whom He recreates in his own 
image and likeness, when He breathes into him the 



5 IX HE A VI 

i of true spiritual life, and makes him a 

The Lord himself teaches in the parable of the 
that seed has a spiritual signification. "The seed," He 

"is the Word;" and the Word is divine truth. 
And when the truth falls into humble and honest mill 
and is received, understood and obeyed, the seed is said 
to tall upon good ground. " He that received seed into 
the good ground, is he that heareth the Word, and un- 
derstandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth 
forth, some an hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty/ 1 

44 With a man who is principled in love and charity," 
says Swedcnborg, "seed from the Lord is so fructified 
and multiplied that it cannot be numbered, — not so 
much during his life in the body, but incredibly in the 
other life. For while man lives in the body, the seed is 
in corporeal ground and among underbrush and thickets 
which are scientifics and gross pleasures, also cares and 
anxieties. But when these things are cast off, as is the 
case when he enters the other life, the seed is freed from 
them and shoots forth, as the seed of a tree when it 
springs out of the ground, shoots forth into a shrub and 
then into a large tree, and is afterwards multiplied into 
a garden of trees. For all knowledge, intelligence and 
wisdom, with their delights and felicities, arc thus fruc- 
tified and multiplied, and in this manner grow to eter- 
nity." — A. C. n. 1941. 

If in heaven, therefore, there exist the precious seeds 
of truth, and the still more precious fruits of charity, 
there must be a perpetual multiplication of truths and 
fructification of goods in the minds and hearts of the 
angels; and this implies eternal progress. 

Analogy also lends additional support to the truth of 
32 



374 HEAVEN I /). 

this doctrine. All organic forms on earth enjoy but a 
transitory life. They arc born, th >w to maturity, 

they die. But until they arrive at maturity, their state 
is one of constant progress, They are continually ad- 
vancing with greater or less rapidity, continually increas- 
ing in strength, continually unfolding new beauties and 
capabilities. This goes on until the period of full ma- 
turity is reached. Then decay — and decay is but another 
term for death — commences. This is the case with every 
plant, tree, animal, and even with man considered in 
respect to his material organism. Death is not sudden 
but gradual when it takes place in an orderly way. It 
is the conclusion of a process, the whole of which from 
beginning to end is a dying process. Man is not dying 
for only a few minutes or hours, but usually for many 
years. He begins to die shortly after he has attained 
to the fulness of bodily strength and stature, and when 
the freshness and bloom of early manhood have begun 
to depart. But up to this time there is physical growth, 
progress, a continual unfolding of bodily powers. 

Now, there is no death in heaven; consequently no 
decay. All is life there. And since in all living things 
on earth there is constant progress up to the time when 
death commences, therefore (reasoning analogically) we 
must conclude that progress in heaven is unending. 
Analogy justifies the inference, that, so long as there is 
order!}' life without decay in any created subject, so long 
must there continue to be a progressive improvement 
in the recipient forms, and a constant increase in the 
fulness and perfection of that life. 

Moreover, the angelic heavens are continually incn 



in numbers. Evei 
stant addition of new n and every additional 

mber b i new form of good and truth, adds 

thing to the pei n of th iety, just as every n 

trument added to a band of musi ind impr< » 

the genera] harmony. In this way also 
and consequently the whole heaven of , must be 

r advancing toward a more and more perfect state — 
ever increasing in variety, wisdom, and consequent hap- 
pine 

(\u\ there be any doubt, then, about the truth ofSwe- 
denborg's disclosure on this subject? Nothing less than 
everlasting progress would suit the nature or satisfy the 
wants of the human soul. Reason, analogy and holy 
Scripture alike bear testimony to its truth. No one 
in heaven remains stationary, or quite satisfied with 
his present attainments, — an inspiring and ennobling 
thought! There all are forever receiving fresh incre- 
ments of wisdom and love, forever advancing toward 
the Divine likeness, -forever drawing nearer to the eter- 
nal Fountain of all light, life, peace and jo)'. No one 
there ever thinks that he has attained to the ne plus ultra 
of knowledge, or that the intensity and purity of his 
love can never be increased. On the contrary they all 
perceive and acknowledge that what they know is as 
nothing in comparison with the fathomless abyss of 
knowledge in the Divine mind ; and that their love, in 
its strength and sweetness, bears no comparison to the 
Lord's infinite love. While the)' are in this state of 
perception and humble acknowledgment, the)' are in a 
progressive, because in an open and receptive state. 



HEAVEN REVEAL 

Their joys, too, are forever multiplying, for these in- 
crease with the increments of wisdom and of love. 

What, now, is the practical bearing of this doctrine? 
What is its obvious and legitimate tendency? Clearly 

this: to make those who cordially accept it, humble 
and earnest seekers after heavenly goods and truths; 
never satisfied with present attainments; unwilling to 
think themselves already wise or good enough, but al- 
ways reaching after a wisdom more exalted; always 
ing on unto perfection, yet never imagining that they 
have attained to it. It naturally suggests such reflec- 
tions or inquiries as these: Should a person be con- 
tent with that particular phase of religious truth which 
was adapted to the world centuries ago? Should we 
refuse to believe in, or neglect to seek after, higher as- 
pects of truth than such as were suited to their eyes? 
We, who know so very little comparatively — should wt 
cease to be receivers or learners, when the angels are 
inquiring and learning forever? Should mortals imag- 
ine that they have fathomed all the arcana of the Divine 
Word and the human soul — that they have reached the 
end of God's last chapter on things divine and spiritual 
— and fancy themselves so wise that they can afford to 
sneer at further alleged disclosures, when those shining 
ones in the courts above so humbly confess that all they 
know is as nothing in comparison with what they do 
not know? Should men on earth indulge the conceit 
of having already attained perfection, or be satisfied 
with any standard already reached, when the angels of 
the highest heaven are forever advancing in wisdom and 
in all angelic graces ? 



S WITH MIX. 377 

Oh, what a rebuke does this heavenly doctrine of pro- 
gress, administer to that contracted, i ted and un- 
progressive spirit n exhibited even among pro- 
sing Christians! — that spirit which turns pr< md 
sometimes scornfully away from all new disclosures on 
the sublimest themes; and which — asking For no more 
and no higher truth — plumes itself on present attain- 
ments, as if the farthest boundaries of spiritual knowled 
and heavenly wisdom had been already compassed! 

(), God of boundless truth and love, be pleased to 
look with pitying eye on the foolish pride and self-con- 
ceit of the multitudes who treat with scorn and derision 
thy sublime revealings, and shed down on all thy chil- 
dren here below more of that humble, truth-seeking, 
wisdom-loving, progressive spirit of thy children in the 
realms above ! 



XXIX. 
CONSOCIATION OF ANGELS WITH MEN 

WE have shown in previous chapters that heaven 
consists of innumerable societies of wise and 
happy beings, all of whom were once dwellers in the 
natural world ; and spirits of a very different character, 
also of human origin, constituting a realm quite the 
opposite to that of heaven, have often been referred to. 
Thus we have, in these two realms, the clearly announced 
Bible doctrine of a heaven of angels and a hell of 
devils. These in the aggregate constitute the spiritual 
world — a world not remote from the natural, but inti- 
32* 



HEAVEN REVEAL , 

mately present and as d with it as the soul is with 

the body. While clothed with material flesh, we are 
dwellers at one and the same time in both worlds; con- 

msly and sensibly in the natural world, unconscious- 
ly, because of the closed condition of our spiritual sens 
in the spiritual world. And every individual is inter- 
nally and spiritually associated with one or another class 

spirits, by whom he is daily and hourly influenced 
almost as the bod)- is actuated by the soul. We do not 
• the spirits that are near and operating upon us, be- 
cause our spiritual eyes are closed; but we may know 
their general character by attentive!}- considering the 
nature of our predominant thoughts and affections, — 
the ends at which we aim, the prompting and governing 
motives of our lives. All these flow into our minds and 
hearts through the medium of spirits in close fellowship 
with us; and they take their character, therefore, from 
the character of the spirits. If our ruling purpose is 
supremely selfish — one that shuts out from the heart all 
reverent regard for the Word of the Lord and the good 
of the neighbor, we may know that infernal spirits are 
our invisible companions — that our souls are in fellow- 
ship with devils, inhaling from hour to hour the pesti- 
lential atmosphere of hell. But if our aims are good 
and heavenly, if we regard our neighbor's welfare as our 
own, and desire above all else to know and t\o the will 
of the Lord, then angels are our associates, our spirits 

live influx from them, we walk and work' in their 

mpany, and breathe the balmy air of heaven. This 

ds with the dictates of enlightened reason, and is 

pre< what the I law of spiritual affinity would 

IcAil us to expect. Accordingly Swedenb tys: 



WITH 

"All spirits aredistin i the other life by this: 

they v sire t\ tal or dia- 

bolical ; but they who desire others, 

and angelic spirits. Man may know which he isamoi 
whether the infernal spirits or the angelic. If he in- 
tends evil to his neighbor, thinking nothing but evil 

ncerning him, and actually doing evil when in his 
power, and finding delight in it, he is among the inl 
nils, .md lies himself also an infernal in the other 

life: but if he intend- I to his neighbor, and thinks 

>od concerning him, and actually d< 
good when in his power, he is among the an md 

becomes himself also an angel in the other life. This 
is the criterion: let everyone examine himself by it. 
It matters not that a person does not do evil when he 
cither cannot or dare not, nor that he does good from 
some selfish regard: such abstinence from the one and 
performance of the other, have only their origin in the 
man's externals, which are removed in the other life 
where lie is such as his thoughts and intentions make 
him."— A. C. n. 1680. 

"There are innumerable societies in the other life, 
which are disposed and arranged by the Lord accord- 
ing to all the genera of good and truth, also those of an 
opposite character. . . . Every man is associated with 
these as to his interiors, that is, as to his thoughts and 
affections, although he is ignorant of it. Hence comes 
all which a man thinks and wills. . . . Such as is the 
good in a man, such is the society of angels with which 
he is associated, and such as is the evil in him, such is 
the society of evil spirits with which he is associated. 
Man invites to himself such societies, or places himself 
in their midst, since like associates with like. For 1 
ample: he who is covetous, invites to himself the oci- 
eties of such as are in a similar lust, lie who lo\ 
himself in preference to others, and despises others, in- 
vites to himself similar spirits. He who takes delight 



in rev such as are in a similar delight; and 

in other i Such spirits communicate with hell, 

and man is in the midst of them, and is ruled altogether 
them, so that he is no longer under his own power 
a d guidance, but under theirs, although he supposes, 
from the delight and consequent liberty which he en- 
joys, that he rules himself. 

" He, however, who is not covetous, or does not love 
himself in preference to others, and who does not take 
delight in revenge, is in the society of similar angel's, 
and by them is led of the Lord, and indeed in freedom, 
to every good and truth to which he suffers himself to 
be led. And as he suffers himself to be led to an inte- 
rior and more perfect good, so he is led to interior and 
more angelic societies. The changes of his state are 
nothing else but changes of societies." — A. C. n. 4067. 

44 The angels attendant on man have their abode 
solely in his ends of life. So far as he has respect to 
an end of the same kind as that which influences the 
Lord's kingdom — that is, to the good of the neighbor, 
the general good, the good of the church — so far the 
angels are delighted with him, and join themselves to 
him as a brother; but so far as he is influenced by self- 
ish cn<.\s t the angels recede, and evil spirits from hell 
draw near; U)r in hell none but selfish ends have rule." 
— Ibid. n. 3796. 

All this is quite consistent with the preceding dis- 
closures, as well as with the conclusions of a sound 
mental philosophy and the rational intuitions of the 
wisest and best men. And we observe that the law 
governing the association of spirits with men, is the 
same biological law according to which spirits them- 
I are arranged into different societies — the law of 
i ritual affinity. .\m\ the Scripture, too, furnishes 
indant confirmation of the truth of this disclosure. 



d \NGELS WITH 

It teaches that spirits in the flesh are operate d up 

ite forces; that both angels and devils are inti- 

tely present with men; the former to enlighten, 
then, uplift and bles mpathi n ith and 

helping us in our conflicts with selfishness and sin, and 
at the sin< ipentance of every sinner I Alice 

xv. ; : the latter to tempt, delude, mislead and d 
— described in the aggregate as a single individual, "our 
adversary, the Devil, walking about as a roaring lion, 
seeking whom he may devour" (i Pet v. 

The evil spirits have access to us and seek to retain 
dominion over us by virtue of our natural proprium or 
hereditary selfishness. And the purpose of the Lord's 
advent in the flesh, was to resist and overcome this 
malign influence, and place Himself in such a relation 
to mankind, that all who humbly look to and follow- 
after Him, may be delivered from their state of spiritual 
bondage. Hence the rejoicing in heaven over the, Di- 
vine incarnation, and the song of the angelic host at the 
hour of our Savior's birth, "Glory to God in the high- 

, and on earth peace, good will toward men M ! 

And now the promise of his Second Coming is rec 
ing its fulfillment — a coming of Himself and his angels 
into closer fellowship with all open and receptive souls 
— a coming with the loud-sounding trumpet of spiritual 
truth, to gather into the fold of the good Shepherd all 
who have ears to hear — "his elect from the four winds, 
from one end of the heavens even to the other." 

And the great practical value of tin: teaching in the 
above extract-, is additional evidence of its truth. For 
every one who examines himself in the light of these 



HEAVEN RE VE tLED. 

may know the character of his invisible as- 
- much certainty as he knows by sight 

the members of his own family. If his ends are su- 
mely selfish and worldly, he may know that he is 

internally associated with infernal spirits, and will, when 
he enters the other world, choose their society in pref- 
nce to that of others. But if he is seeking to know 
and do the will of the Lord, acknowledging his evils 
and striving to overcome them, lie may be sure that 
angels are his spiritual associates, working mightily in 
his behalf; And that in the Hereafter he will desire no 
other companionship than theirs. This thought is in- 
spiring, and can hardly fail to imp; very sincere 
believer, and incite him to daily watchfulness, prayer, 
self-denied and righteous endeavor. 




E£m 



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